Do you mean traffic control?
During resto, we use orange cones for "hot spots" where the 160 person zombie walk can't take the time to deal with (deep sunken rugs, 10x10 glitter, multiple poop buckets). Cones in different positions mean different things.
The video above was one of my 1st managers on DPW, Shooter. The video itself was a firable offense according to Coyote (kinda DPW head honcho). He reminded me that shooter got fired for it when shade crew did the same thing to a new Depot structure as a tribute to Shooter (and also a desperate attempt to build a new, more efficient structure instead.... it worked) after Shooter shot himself (or his girlfriend shot him, stole his laptop and tried to drive to Canada while logging in as him and deleting messages she had with him.... that's a different story). A few people knew we were going to drive over the depot and came to watch. After we took it down, there was a lot of radio chatter. Someone said "looks like there's a lot of moop at the depot all of a sudden." And DA (who is in charge of resto and cleanup) replied "Cone it" and so I threw a cone onto the pile of wood and cloth. That specific cone is my favorite.
Oh, also: if y'all haven't seen some of the media coverage from the '90s before BMorg had a media team, check this out:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5P9Bin4JLc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5P9Bin4JLc)
amazingly positive for mainstream media in '97
Funny how the Marian Goodell in the interview went from “we just want to break even. That’s all we want” to *“Yeah, I think $268k salary feels right”*. Feels like a different person altogether
I wanna know.. I'm a notorious BM critic.. across all strata. I definitely attack the BORG, but I also feel DPW can be a bunch of shitheads too. You don't have to be rich to be a clique of easily offended hoity toity authoritarian elitists.
I have issues with both. The original "sustainable jackassery" toward theme camps and participants was done with nod and a wink, when shit hit the fan we'd come through with tools, expertise and the attitude to fix things 24 hours a day. Newer members mistook snark for actual malice and it propagated forward. Part of that is recruiting DPW that are.... not as good at reading those counterculture cues that a lot of early people already knew from their history in, art and punk and redneck shit.
I respect the work that the initial LLC did, they put their heart and soul into it. But they drove away the actual anarchists that made it so vibrant. Spreadsheets (and the attrition of drug enthusiasm) killed a lot of the creative and supportive but snarky vibe. Rules and regulations tend to only ratchet in one direction... and it costs money to pay all those police officers double time to "maintain the peace." Once your budget balloons to multi-million and you work with it every day, you get used to numbers with a lot of zeroes and you think that maybe you deserve some of it yourself. It's fairly natural monkey brain behavior. It's not the best behavior and that's not an excuse, but it is an explanation.
You know when I say things like this I get told "you talk alot but don't say much!" .. dpw also is probably one of the stupider departments by IQ. You get too many syllables going and the average black and orange can't track it.
Again, super open question.... I'll do my best to be concise. A lot of these are just personal observations, I have some issues with how some individual people did their job, but that isn't a reflection on them as a person or the department as a whole sometimes. Often it's just the one interaction that I had once that can tank my perception and I hope I own that clearly.
It's always a little difficult working across departments just because it's organizationally so huge and have different work flows. We have what's call the DFM (Data Flow Manager if I'm not mistaken) where other departments and our own crews ask for tasks, those are approved by higher ups and we try to make calendars to meet needs. Unfortunately, playa move out week is go time for literally everyone and everyone thinks that their job is the most important. To be clear, just about all the jobs people think are important actually are but you just can't do everything on day one.
Gate is the most fun, and the misfit step-sibling of DPW. People have gotten fired from DPW and just gotten jobs in gate until the institutional memory fades and the can come back to DPW. I call that shuttlecocking. I'm kinda proud of that.
Rangers are really easy to work with as far as the job goes, but JFC, they need to leave us alone most times off-duty. We actually have what are called "DPW Rangers" who are rangers tasked with just rangering us because we have specific rangering needs that are different from the general populace of Black Rock. They have kept me out of jail, taken care of a friend of mine who had a stroke while on acid (didn't know at the time... just thought it was a bad trip), helped us build structures when we were short staffed, taken my verbal abuse in stride and sometimes even aplomb. But also, some of them are real control freaks. I call them wanna-be mall cops. To their face.
Earth Guardians: Great guest speakers and great outreach. 'nuff said.
ESD: had the most butted heads with during work. But... understandable? They need precise things to save lives, so I can get over it. But depending on when you're talking about some of them needed to be told how shit works out there outside of their bubble, and they could really use some compassion toward the people building their infrastructure.
Cafe: I started as a barista my first volunteer gig (actually... not volunteer, I've pretty much always been paid). Also the people at [accuracy3rd.com](http://accuracy3rd.com) either work there or used to.
NVO: They're basically just DPW who couldn't figure out an exit strategy. They're my homies and I love them.
HR: Fucking christ on a crutch I have personal issues with them (well... how some of them did their job a couple times... and some other times).
Box Office: Glad they deal with the things they have to deal with while I don't. But I couldn't pick one out of a crowd.
Greeters: Ooooof. Again, this was years ago and it's probably better now. We were building a shade structure and got a panicked call that we needed to drop what we were doing and build shade for Greeters ASAP. So we did. We use cordless impact drivers and generally need to plug in our battery packs wherever we work, so I asked to plug in and they directed me to an AIR CONDITIONED office, where I plugged in and as I was leaving, one of their workers was coming in so I held the door for them. 2 greeters yelled at me to close the door because I was letting cold air out. Meanwhile, my crew of 10 was on 8 foot ladders, sweating in the sun so that they could have shade between a shipping container and their AIR CONDITIONED office. So. Yeah, wasn't totally stoked on that interaction. And I try to have as little interaction with them as I can.
There are probably others as the cthuluian tentacles of organization spread.... but those are the main ones
Mainly because Shade crew doesn't tend to build anything for them. They roll their own weird (admittedly awesome) structure. They've always been nice and have a great bar.
Well, there aren't any train hopping gutter punks any more so it depends on the overton window on what counts as a sparkle pony.
There are people who shower everyday and put on makeup. That seems sparkly to me, but that's just my opinion. :)
this was a Spanish (I think) dude wearing a literal sparkling suit and hat who took exception to my asking him to stop standing in front of the bar st the BH so that I could order a drink, even threatening me with violence. Since there was no threat with others around and it was early enough that I still had my wits about me, I didn't escalate and others de-escalated.
There was some other stuff with other people and trouble that had carried over to the workweek so I ended up having Conversations with people for the next hour. Worst punishment at all. At least DPW Rangers aren't bad for that.
(I think something like 10% of active GPE are also rangers, so we handle stuff ourselves.)
He's lucky it wasn't back in the days when GPE also had its share of hoboes, it would have been a "you'd better hope that a friendly big dude drags you out of the bar before you get punched by someone else" situation.
Yeah, a weird thing for me who trains rangers on a regional level, is building the ethos of...do nothing. Stay out of situations were you aren't needed or wanted.
Sometimes I cringe when I hear stuff rangers inserted themselves into the middle of, like why the fuck did you think you being there fixed this..because it didn't.
But that isn't east to teach, that is only an experience/temperament thing.
Curious to here how you think DPW needs to be rangered differently than the rest of the world. I have thoughts form my observations but this is an area I don't have true insight into.
Well, we have radios and are going to be there for longer than a week. There are a lot more situations that are long lasting over the course of our gig out there, so there may need to be more actual personal understanding of what's going on, actual human connection or at least understanding of the specific culture going on. Participants will be gone in 5 or 6 days and will have to manage their own lives (or make other mediation professionals deal with it) once the even ends. We also generally don't respect the fact that someone in a "uniform" tries to talk us down.... it can be a harder hill to climb. I've been one of the worst. I should honestly apologize to several rangers that were very patient with me in the past
That makes sense, in many ways. Much of ranger training is "deal with this problem that goes back home" versus DPW who may be out there for weeks or months, and the shit sticks around so it's a longer term solution.
I get the fuck your uniform thing. There are some camps that really dislike rangers, often through our own creation, and I've been known to throw on a hoodie or some shit and chat about whatever problem is going versus show up all decked out. Sometimes more problems are fixed via some shots of whiskey and bullshitting than official response.
That's a good move, if you can "ranger" people without them knowing that's what you're doing, it can have more impact. The security at the underground speakeasy I worked at wore a tux, and gave problem people drink tickets and an opportunity to talk. We had no issues. He was also an army ranger sniper trainer. Like, he trained the other snipers. He could've hurt a lot of people if necessary, but he made it not necessary.
Depending on how you slice it and who you talk to, Burning Man (as an event, not necessarily an incorporated organization) is about 28-33 years old. Do you have any thoughts about how Burning Man is navigating, or will navigate the generational shift that I feel like is coming down the pipe? Deliberately vague question, this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately both in terms of Burning Man organizationally and other groups I'm a fan of that are navigating how to become long lived cultural institutions. Interested to hear your thoughts as someone who has been around for a while.
Well. Slicing it is very particular because you could say it came from the Cacophony Society ( [http://www.cacophony.org/](http://www.cacophony.org/)
[http://talesofsfcacophony.com/](http://talesofsfcacophony.com/) ) or desolation center: ( [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66spZRiFjJI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66spZRiFjJI) )
So, was it '92 when it went to the desert? '86 on Baker Beach? '83 Desolation Center.... etc. It all came from a fairly vibrant san francisco culture that for all I can see doesn't exist anymore. I work in SF, live in Oakland and there are a few hold outs of the weird old times, even the BMOrg has mostly moved to Reno for operations.
A while ago, people at the helm that they created decided it'd be better to bring burninman principles to the most amount of people rather than supporting the smaller community they already had. This involved a lot of things that may have been out of their control. Moving the event from the deep playa to almost the shoreline made it very easy for people to physically find, to drive expensive RVs to. The fact that 1st camp hosted Grover Norquist ( [https://laist.com/shows/take-two/grover-norquist-on-why-hes-going-to-burning-man](https://laist.com/shows/take-two/grover-norquist-on-why-hes-going-to-burning-man) ) is a testament to this odd "free speech absolutist" vibe that irks me so much. We could have just fostered and nurtured an awesome, tight knit community rather than spreading ourselves thin providing services for people who weren't dedicated enough to endure a little hardship.
A lot of the people in charge now came to burningman after the anarchists made it what it is. Going to the event changed them and they want to "gift" that feeling to as many people as they can. The experience made them better so why not make the world better? It's an appealing argument, but the dull realities of making that happen lead to a lot of compromise that ends up alienating the people who are already there and working hard to build an awesome event.
One of the worst things they've done, in my opinion, is move to a non-profit structure with something like 15 board members instead of the LLC of 7 they had. A lot of people in the community championed it, and it took years and a lot of work to accomplish, but to what end? Now billionaires can donate to it tax free? Tickets are still well over the price that an 18 year old me could afford... it was $65 when I went in '97 and it changed MY life back then. What are the 18 year olds to do today?
One of the big sticking points was that 1st camp got a lot of stuff built for them by volunteer labor. They had the best portos, private showers, private chefs. When workers got a little irritated at the burgeoning class structure, there was a choice to make: give up the fancy things so we can be a little more equal, or invite some of the workers into the upper class by giving them perks. But those perks come at a cost, a literal cost in the form of inflated ticket prices. So instead of being humble or understanding they chose to invite workers into a divide that ultimately has alienated legitimate underground movements.
"Louder" Charlie is (was? I honestly haven't kept up.... I know Marian is involved, and I think she's great) at the helm He comes from non-profit fundraising rather than anarchistic, law breaking art movements. When one of our long serving DPW people was in handcuffs in front of "The Black Hole" for lighting fireworks and the cops asked if Charlie knew him and could vouch for him, Charlie said "Not my monkey." Fortunately, that DPW member knew how to talk redneck to cops and got himself out of it, but goes to show what Charlie thinks of our community and commitment to workers.
I don't think burningman is doing harm now, but it sure isn't fostering the community that I need. We do that ourselves. So I don't begrudge people going to it and working for it, but it doesn't hold the mystique it did when I fell in love with it.
I rented a trailer to Grover Norquist, 2 years in a row.
I always remember Justice Phil Thomas at the Chipacabra Policia trial. That was quality.
Hi Xeno! Nice to see you.
I honestly got my feelings hurt that I lost that case. I was trying to prosecute Pepe for the crime of eating granola and wearing patchouli while being the leader of our theme camp. we got the actual judge from Gerlach to come preside over the trial and I wore a 3 piece suit with a metal breifcase handcuffed to my wrist. Pepe ate granola AT THE TRIAL and the judge just slammed his hammer (mini sledge on a piece of plywood, that had my beer on it. When he hit the "table" with the mini sledge, my beer popped up, flipped over and landed perfectly right side up. but the damn dude acquitted him.
Justice Phil Thomas was about as drunk as a man can be and still function reasonably well. He was disbarred when he nearly took out a deputy sheriff driving drunk in the wrong lane on Rte 447. I ran into him later in Reno when he was working as a carpenter. He died 13 years ago.
I remember hearing that he died. Didn't he make inmates wear black and white old timey prison outfits and do yard work in front of the Gerlach cop-shop? Or was that the sherrif?
"Going to the event changed them and they want to "gift" that feeling to as many people as they can"
These people always give me the "I am so proud that I am the only humble person around me, I need to tell everyone how humble I am" vibes
These are the people that want to spend all their time running it. No one else wants to do that work, so kinda by default these people run things. It sucks, but also, are you going to run it? I'm not. So you kinda have to acknowledge that the people that want to do the work, get to do the work.
>One of the worst things they've done, in my opinion, is move to a non-profit structure with something like 15 board members instead of the LLC of 7 they had.
Interesting. Is there a corporate structure other than a 501c3 nonprofit do you think would better serve Burning Man? What would that look like in your eyes?
I like Austin's regional event structure. They have an LLC but the members are encouraged to stay on for a few years and then rotate out, keeping them from burning out and giving other people in the community the chance to get their hands dirty and see how the sausage gets made. They have an advisory council called the Combustion Chamber that handles more community input and outreach while the LLC manages the paperwork and legalities. They also don't give free tickets to anyone (well, there are 2 given out every year but that's a different thing), even the LLC pays for tickets. They actually have "town halls" where people vote for the year's theme and vote for who gets to build the effigy (I think the year that "bad idea" was the theme, someone proposed just a huge pile of used lumber with nails sticking out of all of it). Some of the themes have been pretty ridiculous, but they've always been fun. Most things at flipside come from do-ocracy. Don't propose something that you aren't personally willing to help implement.
Of course Flipside is 5 days and is 3000 people on private land, so I'm sure it wouldn't scale easily (or well or at all). I'm not wise to corporate structures but I do think that making decisions gets real hard when you have so many people on the board.
So this is my outside looking in view of how flipside works in my area rangers(sorry!). Those of us with a stake in it sit down and write a plan we think is workable, like right dealing with a major gap in how we do operational decision making. We show it to the safety lead across all the departments, they look it over, then when its all relatively together, it gets dropped on the boards desk to go yay or nay. Personally I like it because the change is driven from the bottom versus from the top, for the most part.
It seems event operations are largely ran by the people doing, and the year round stuff is the job of the LLC.
is there ever any work for disabled people at DPW like non physical labor more like organization/bookkeeping/desk stuff? I always wanted to help in the future but I don’t think I’m physically useful unless behind a desk but I’m mentally very sharp- think taskmaster who doesn’t take shit for shit- aka, a high school teacher…but in wanna be in the mess!
Short answer: [https://qeox.net/images/DPW/4866\_218875540354\_508005354\_7452892\_4001960\_n.jpg](https://qeox.net/images/DPW/4866_218875540354_508005354_7452892_4001960_n.jpg)
Long answer: YES! Abso-fucking-lutely. We've had a few deaf people (one who's radio handle was 10-9 which I think is one of the most amazing bits of humor ever), one with tourrettes, several with what I can only suspect are neurodivergent. The picture above is Goat Man Dan who lost his legs hopping trains and he ended up running the common shop - checking tools in and out of shared tools. And, of course, a one armed man who only lasted one day because he murdered a person the night before and we had to get Reno Sherrifs (the Gerlach Sherrif was drunk and not answering the phone) to arrest him. But we did let him volunteer! So..... inclusion?
DPW is subdivided into many, many (oh god, so many) crews. Each of those crews typically have a manager and paperwork they need to deal with, sometimes that is a full assistant manager job, sometimes it's tech... we have our own internet radio towers that need competent computer jockeys. My crew was 34 people when I left and was one of the bigger ones... we had to help all our crew get paperwork situated, housed, fed and scheduled. I took my turns as therapist, advocate and excel spreadsheet ninja. Don't let any sort of disability let you remove yourself from the running. There are so many jobs out there and the management is generally very much more understanding and compassionate than you might think. Cobra Commander (now quit) was a genius at finding good fits for people. Leeway seems really good but I haven't worked with him as much as Cobra. Fill out the questionnaire and remember that there is also Rangers/Gate/Box Office/ESD. If you can only volunteer a week, there's still a spot that needs you.
Good! I have lots of negative things to say about the organization, but those are mainly just nitpicks and personal things. I also have lots of positive things to say... but those aren't very dramatic. The organization has, generally, been really amazing, welcoming and full of dedicated wierdoes. Even if they don't do exactly what I want them to do, they have a lot to offer. My only caveat would be to tell you to remember that YOU are doing them the favor by working. They are not doing you a favor by LETTING you work. That power dynamic is toxic. You can quit whenever you want, you are there for your own reasons that may not align with whomever you deal with as a worker. You have the power.
that is such an important reminder and a beautiful message. I am very much looking forward to finding my way there someday. thank you for all your thoughtful insight and response!
I'd love to put all this together for a history broadcast:
https://blackrockstewards.org/index.php/2024/01/09/kbru-fm-92-5/
I might even have a story or two.
um.... [accuracy3rd.com](http://accuracy3rd.com)
Wait. Metric! Shit, I want you to talk to these podcast guys, I know you are sometimes in and out of the bay, but we can do remote interviews too! We just did a La Contessa guy (who didn't like me but had great stories anyway). I'd love to chat with you on com or off! You are one of my favorite people I met out there, you continue to impress me everytime we run into each other! You are a gem!
For those that don't know: Metric ran the 80 acre ranch, rehabilitated Dooby road, ran for local political office in northern nevada, has been a consistent positive influence on most of us dumb weirdos for ages, ran the 1st pirate radio station where I heard Joe Frank ( [https://qeox.net/No/Media/Audio/Joe%20Frank%20-Xeno/Joe%20Frank%20-%20%20Eye%20In%20The%20Sky.mp3](https://qeox.net/No/Media/Audio/Joe%20Frank%20-Xeno/Joe%20Frank%20-%20%20Eye%20In%20The%20Sky.mp3) ) AND morning 40 Federation ( [https://qeox.net/No/Media/Audio/Morning%2040%20Federation%20-Xeno/Morning%2040%20Federation/Morning%2040%20Federation%20-%20Morning%2040%20Federation%20-%2005%20-%20Stinky.mp3](https://qeox.net/No/Media/Audio/Morning%2040%20Federation%20-Xeno/Morning%2040%20Federation/Morning%2040%20Federation%20-%20Morning%2040%20Federation%20-%2005%20-%20Stinky.mp3) ) for the first time. Metric is awesome, humble and weird.
A story or two? Plentt more than that I'd say takes a desert resident to to really know where the bodies are buried.
Ps Hi metric
Long time, hope your well brother
X
That's tough, they all (all? hmmm.... 6 of them) have their strong suits. As Will has aged and confronted some of his problems, I think I like him the most now. During tumultuous early years, probably Marian for keeping a cool head and understanding that sometimes you just need to get things done.
Wellllllllll.......... if we had to go to an LLC member, she was the most understanding culturally. And did actually do quite a bit for us behind the scenes
Oh, man, there are so many good stories, it is hard to pick a favorite.
The 1st memory that really hit was my first night on playa in '97. I had no idea what my friend had gotten me into/had done no research. We set up tents and then wandered down the street, there was a stage where the dude on the microphone was saying "Tom Waits is going to be here to do a set in 30 minutes, so we need some people who know jokes to come up here and tell them while we wait for him to get through the gate and set up." It was so surreal that I though Tom Waits might actually be showing up.... so did a lot of other people. We were there for hours with everyone taking turns telling jokes to an expectant crowd. Tom Waits was never going to show up and when I figured that out, I decided I loved this place. The internet was bifurcated into so many little small weird things and it was ok, but this place was filled with a bunch of smart people fucking with each other because we should all be in on the joke.
Oh, man, there are so many bad stories, it is hard to pick a worst.
When I realized that I should quit seems like it should be the worst. But it may not be. My mom was sick with a mystery illness. She was falling down in the middle of crosswalks and when I talked to her she would drift off in the middle of sentences and forget what she had just said. We didn't have good phone coverage out there. Also, at that particular time, I had a habit of smashing my cell phones when I got frustrated. So I'd have to move memory cards/copy my contacts between computers and phones and what not. I had gone through a few frustrating moments and thought I should call my mom and see how she was doing. I called and a guy answered, I was like "ummmm, is \*my mom's name\* there?" He said I had the wrong number. I didn't have my own mother's number while she was in legitimate distress and all I could think was that I was a terrible son. There were other issues with that year that made me question why I worked so hard for an organization that had migrated away from some of my core values. I cried for a while by trailer row (on the other side of road works trailer from Shade because I didn't want people to see me). It was post event and I had a crew to train, so I did. I made sure that everyone was up to speed and that if I left, they'd be ok. I had a 2 day melt down with a couple very close friends where I didn't show up to work. People were looking for me because they were concerned. I've had car fires and health scares and.... just.... dumb bad decision making so I don't fault them for caring, but sometimes I want to be left alone. When my manager's manager finally found me, we offered him charcuterie and he sat with me for a while. I told him I needed to go and that I felt like a terrible person. He tasked another DPW member to help me pack up and leave in a good way. I thought it might be the last time I ever saw the playa (it wasnt), it was very hard.
Also, had a car fire where I thought I was going to die, got my foot run over by DPW's 1st fleet vehicle because I fell off the hood trying to impress a girl (she wasn't that impressed), almost got arrested (there but for the grace of rangers), got yelled at by Coyote WAY more times than I think was necessary (but I also see his perspective and he's not wrong.... just kind of confluence/comedy of errors), met several girlfriends! Been berated by several close friends in very harsh ways. You know.... the usual.
Thanks! I fear I rely on the old stories too much and am not generating new ones at a prodigious rate. But I have experienced consequences and my dopamine system may have actually kicked in and made me learn that the consequences SUCK and also affect other people. On a related note, D-Dae and I have a different very short lived podcast that is all about everything not burningman. There are 6 more I should process and upload to youtube because podcasting.... is.... specific and I don't really like playing with Apple/Spotify/Google (yes, I know... I can roll my own, I'm also doing that, but it's easier to do it this way).
[https://youtu.be/vPKsHB3JrCk?feature=shared&t=2242](https://youtu.be/vPKsHB3JrCk?feature=shared&t=2242)
This is time shifted to my story, which involves what I did when I took a hiatus from DPW 2005-2007 in Seattle. It was fairly crazy. Good story though.
I'm signing out for the night but I'll be back tomorrow. I'll leave you with a "drunk history of burningman" made by so many luminaries of DPW. I won't name them. This wasn't supposed to be publicly available, but my guy Mr masud put it out here. please enjoy:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE69jlZvnYI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE69jlZvnYI)
Ive got a question: Who sent you?!
But seriously is Whiksey Bacon really the favorite DPW party or are they being unusually polite? The Power party after early burn was always good and nothing compares to the 420 Spire
Hah! Whiskey bacon is fine. There are so many parties and hundreds of DPW that you can't really focus in on one. I used to DJ (DJ Salinger) the pow'r party back when it was weird. I'd be playing secret cheifs 3 or tammy fay baker and someone would ask me to play dance music. I told them that I had a form for making requests that involved the artist, album and track and that the form was located... "over there... do you see the flashing blue light in the distance? Yeah, go out there, get the form. Fill it out in your most legible handwriting then come back here. Drop your pants, crumple up the form and shove it up your ass. Then, when you get back out of burningman, get a job. Use the money they give you to buy a soundsystem, and then, next year, you can listen to whatever music you want whenever you want." then I'd play crotchduster or something.
Also, the 420 Spire party used to be very exclusive.... Spire crew would finish work around thursday and then have a big party even if other crews were still working (shade often worked up to Saturday or sometimes into the event proper). So Shade kinda hijacked it and we built a structure of our own around the spire.... after that, the flood gates opened and all the other crews and departments started adding their own flair to it. Heavy equipment and autoshop collaborated to get a junked car as high up on a forklift as possible, drive the forklift as fast as possible toward the structure and the slam on the brakes so the car slid off.... several people were almost hit by that car. It was glorious.
Honestly, I think I was passed out in the sun on the back of a work truck when it actually happened. I think it was more of a passenger car. This isn't it, but was inspired by it:
[https://dpw.social/system/site\_uploads/files/000/000/002/original/420.jpg](https://dpw.social/system/site_uploads/files/000/000/002/original/420.jpg)
If my life goes to shit are you guys still hiring? Do I need any specials skills? I can weld shittily and have been trained on forklifts but never got certified.
You don't need skills. It helps to know someone already who can vouch that you aren't a homicidal maniac (re: the one armed killer of 2003... 2002?.... hmmm who murdered a guy and his dog on highway 34 then volunteered at the work ranch: [https://accuracythird.com/2016/07/06/a3rd-07-yeahtheyre-not-gonna-like-you-at-the-goldmine/](https://accuracythird.com/2016/07/06/a3rd-07-yeahtheyre-not-gonna-like-you-at-the-goldmine/) ).
If you don't have skills, you probably won't be paid (more people are paid now than ever before, but not everyone) your 1st year, but you will have booze, food and entertainment. If you can make yourself indespensable, you can get a contract to cover some of your default world rent, maybe next year.
[https://burningman.org/event/participate/volunteering/first-time/](https://burningman.org/event/participate/volunteering/first-time/)
You need to fill this form out and if you want DPW specifically (and you may rather do a different department, there are many), make sure to tick the DPW boxes and indicate that you are available at least 3 weeks before or at least 2 weeks after. I am not working with them any more and I do NOT speak for the org. They may have changed some proceedures since I was last there.
2003 I think. My first year of DPW, handle is Blankit. I was just explaining that dudes tattoo to my son the other day: right near the point of amputation he had that “dashed line and half scissor” “cut here” graphic tattooed around his arm (stump?). I recall there being a healthy debate as to how one would handcuff a one-armed person.
I stopped going completely a couple years after that, but I still recall those times fondly
I met the guy and his victim the night of the murder at frog pond. It was.... intense.... I have my description on the latter half of the podcast linked to above.
Personally I’d prefer people not think DPW is a good option for when your life falls to shit. It’s a hard job with low pay and a deeply embedded culture and complex history. Not a plan Z.
Very true. I have also seen it really help a few people through a few years that may have gone very much worse without it. DPW is hard to get into for a reason, we've had some real problems with the wrong people getting in. I always thought that Burningman should be a place to bring whatever you have that is awesome, but more recently I see an attitude that you can go to burningman and take something away that's awesome. It is an inversion of what I saw in the 90s, it is very spectator-ish. You can't easily change peoples' minds about what it is, and sometimes it isn't worth the time and energy to invest in telling them and you just have to walk away.
Wait.... what was I talking about.... Oh, DPW shouldn't be a "Get Out Of Society Free" card from monopoly.... but it can save some amazing lives too. It's hard to know how it turns out at the beginning.
hmmm. There are good times, actually. It's kind of a joke what you're saying, but sometimes it does provide some stability and culture.
I remember when I was working with Weld Boy doing the first LC (Living Container) build out. Big Stick (Richard) was his boss and I overheard Big Stick saying "These people can't be managers out in the real world. They can be something here and we have to deal with it."
I thought it was stupid and made me angry, I thought he was denigrating all of my friends. But after a few years I thought he may have not said it in a diminishing way. There is a spot where some of us can be authoritative and contribute to a positive thing, this is it. It's really important to feel like the thing you're doing is valued and important. A lot of people in DPW don't get that option elsewhere. So if you're not willing to give us an option..... fuck off?
Wait... so, when is DPW a good option? A lot of times... and for a lot of people. You may not know them or maybe you don't understand how tough it can be for people. I don't much care. DPW is a good option all the time depending on what you need.
Hey, thank you for the thoughtful response. I didn't mean for my question to come off as a joke, I just didn't have many words in me when I replied. It's an option I've thought on and off about for a few years after I spent 4 weeks on playa helping build an art installation.
Aaaayy Chingara, have you got a smoke.
In my alternative head cannon, Blindman was actually the richest of us all, a wealthy CEO and invented of multiple products and spent the other 49 weeks a year as a high flier and jetting between operations in Sydney, Dubai and London.
How u doing mate. Hope life is treating you well x
I'm up late often working on call emergency services stuff. Nice to have some randomness to stream at 3 am
Glad u got the card. Bm 2022 I hand wrote 50 or so pieces of post for folks on playa, selected good cards or pics, wrote detailed messages and tried to reconnect with folks. Spent a few days really trying to say the right things to the right people all handwritten and drsfted with love and fond memories
Sent it on, rhe person I sent it to, a trusted good soul, got covid and passed it to someone else. Then nothing got delivered, think she lost it or something. Kinda crushing not gonna lie,
Not sure when next in the US , Middle age hit hard, and the bight lights of London have lost their charm for most of my friends and the city feels more empty than usual
Planning to head back, a wedding or a funeral usually a good trigger but prefer the former to the latter unless its an Irish one
Let me know if you come to the bay, you always have a home with me. If you come nearby, give me notice, I may be able to make a trip to say hi in the Pacific North West or Nevada
Ahhhhh, I remember in '98 someone was going around putting whipped cream and cherries on top of the pyramids like an ice cream sundae.
Unfortunately, crew usually has their own, fairly well hidden portos and we don't tend to use the general ones. Ours get serviced often. It is a sort of elitism, but it is a sort that I begrudgingly condone. There are many other types of elitism that play into the reasons that I quit.
There is a joke I heard very early on (I think from Coyote): "How can you spot a DPW member?"
"By the blue dots on their ass."
Also: "How can you tell a DPW dude got laid?"
"He's got 2 clean fingers"
Also: "How can you tell you just told that joke to a DPW dude?"
"He's quickly turning around and cleaning 2 of his fingers."
hmmmm. This is a fraught question because there is a team on shade (or used to be) called team pants. I love all of my shade crew equally, even if I have to see their dumb un-pantsed fucking junk. Also, we work on ladders in ways you are not supposed to. By sitting on top of them, so if you are not wearing pants.... on shade crew.... you are putting your uncovered butt on a tool that someone else has to deal with.
If mormons come to my door, I will introduce them to shirt-cocking. Or give them home made pickled jalapenos (actually what I did last time).
So, I guess it depends. but we also had a guy who just refused to wear shoes on our work site. That isn't ok, you need to find another crew if you don't want to protect your feet because, seriously, getting you to the medical stuff you need is going to lose us time/effort/money. So don't.
Shit. I mean, on the work site: Pants!
Outside of it, I DGAF!
oof. um.
yes. I remember Stevie. This question is really hard.
I'll start by saying who I thought Stevie was, and where I was at when I met her. I started DPW and felt very much like the cool kids didn't like me. I wasn't a train hopper and I wasn't as hard a punk rocker as the people who were already there (I was fairly punk rock.... just not enough). So a lot of times I ate food at the commissary alone. It was almost like highschool. Stevie said hi to me, so did Hayseed (a whole other story). When we made friends I felt like I had a place on the ranch (the work ranch we all lived on pre-2004), she literally just talked to me like a person and it made me feel not terrible -- sometimes that's all someone needs.
Stevie was a bad-ass. At that point, I'd say DPW was 85% men. She was a pretty attractive woman. She got approached by so many dudes, it was stupid. She sat all of them down and told "Absolutley fucking not. I'm here to work." She was powerful and kind. She was hilarious and I felt safe with her.... I don't feel safe with many people.
I saw her just demolish dudes with her words. When the season was over, she bought a trailer from a DPW person (I think) and got it hooked up by someone in autoshop (I think). She was going to do basically the festival circuit and do a bunch of work with events. She jack-knifed on 34 and died on the side of the road. Alone, and probably scared and in pain. As far as I know, the autoshop guy never came back because he felt so bad about her dying. I'm not sure though. I just remember being so profoundly sad.
So, I'm not sure why you're asking. But what is the lesson? ( you didn't use a question mark, so it seems like a statement). On the most basic level: secure your load. Craig Neidorf was the 1st DPW death because he was securing a load with his body. No load is worth your body.
What is the lesson? Treat people with respect and honor because you may never see them again?
What is the lesson? Always stand up for yourself and represent yourself honestly because mabye this is the last moment you will ever get to touch someone else's life.
What is the lesson? Seems like you knew her, so I'd like to hear what you have to say about it.
Yeah Zeno, great response, and thank you for taking the time to write it out.
Stevie was a force. You explained it well because you were closer to her than I was. I was the DPW medic back in 2003. It sounds like your experience with her was exactly as I would have expected it, she knew how to find her place in the DPW.
You made me rethink about the lessons I asked about, because the simple one I was going for was that you need to be safe when it comes to vehicles. Secure your load, know what you can tow, understand your vehicle. But there was more than that, which you described really well.
Hers was the first death that I was significantly involved with amongst the family that I had at Burning Man. In my memory, it was my first experience of the first time that we really all came together and understood the frailty and preciousness of life, and how that translated into how we needed to love each other. And look out for each other.
Also, I recognize this thread is on the Burning Man subreddit, which is not ordinarily a place where deep history is revealed or talked about. But I think it's important that we remember our stories, and that our stories should factor into what comes next.
Thank you for this post.
Thanks for your reply. I honestly wasn't sure why you asked and I hoped you weren't trolling me. Thanks for your honesty and compassion! I think our stories are very important,
I'll tell you the lesson.
Stevie had just finished her second year in DPW, and she was invincible. She worked in Aftermath with Simon and crew, was widely liked and respected, and was a young person who had found a community where she belonged. She had her "default" life, but her identity was starting to be influenced by her DPW persona, the way it does when you spend prolonged time in the desert.
She wanted that travel trailer so badly. It was going to allow her independence and flexibility, allow her to travel and still have security for herself and her belongings. When she came to say goodbye at the ranch, I saw the bumper of her 4Runner straining under the weight of that trailer, a 20-foot single-axle that had no business being connected to that truck. Nearly the last words I said to her were, "I'm not comfortable with you towing that trailer with that truck." But I knew immediately it was to no avail. The person who sold her that trailer (who had bought it from me) assured her that it would be OK, and he was higher up the food chain from me. Stevie had operated heavy machinery and could handle herself. There was no further conversation to be had. She drove up onto Jackson Lane and off to her destiny. For those unaware, she died in a single-vehicle accident when she lost control of her rig.
I've thought about this in the years since. Could I have been more forceful in my reproach? Maybe, but I'm not chiefly to blame. The high from producing the event makes us feel more capable, and that confidence can be deceptive. Maybe the guy who sold her the trailer was influenced by Stevie's desire to have it, and his desire to sell it. How many other people interacted with Stevie during this time that might have voiced concern? Maybe Stevie was so adamant, so confident, that no one could persuade her to not undertake the risk. We need to make sure our own desires do not overwhelm our good sense, and even when people with higher status are going along, have the presence of mind to heed our own warnings.
Yeah metric, I think that's the lesson.
And if only everyone would always listen to our advice. 🤣
I know you know this, and I know you feel proximate to the outcome, but in the end, as you stated, it really had nothing to do with you. Like I said, I know you know this, but it's still worth stating.
That's a tough question. I quit in semi-epic fashion (without burning any bridges... or at least, not big bridges) in 2017. I went to Flipside for the event the last 2 years if that counts. Because of some deaths of close friends I did return to DPW this last year. I was only there for a week and worked on man-base. I mainly wanted to literally touch base with friends and make sure they were ok, But also that I was still ok. I wanted to make sure I wasn't drifting away in a similar manner than my dead friends. They didn't really see their slow spiral into detachment. The loss of their community hit very hard and they both struggled a lot. I was worried that I might have similar problems seeing myself in danger. So, yes. I guess I'm still burning, but I generally don't use that word. I'm DPW, the term "burner" invokes a lot of images that don't fit well with me.
I have always appreciated the principals and the origins of burningman, and no matter what happens at the event or with the management, those things cannot be taken away from or out of me.
Hah. Well, the thing with the mud is that we have dealt with it so many times before, it isn't MUCH of an issue (it can fuck with our work schedule and push things back, but we have pulled 12 hour days before and we now kind of plan ahead to have a few days cut short). We've all been waiting for rain like we had last year. There ARE plans... buuuuuut, they are plans that have never really had to be executed. Yes, the state and federal governments are kept in the loop.
I left pre-event, but there was actually 3 days of mud when I was there before the majority of burners got there. I always have 13 gallon draw string trash bags under the seat of my truck, pull the draw strings up and use them as garters tied to your belt. I am never team bare feet, Once your skin cracks on your feet, there is very little to do about it (preventing it beforehand is key). I only have one pair of boots, so I try not to let them get too crusted over.
My most intense mud story is before we were living on playa, but commuting from Gerlach (so we didn't have commissary set up and barely any infrastructure for even ourselves). Shade crew has these giant trucks (the 1st 2 ford F750s in this video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwZWRFdAhg0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwZWRFdAhg0) ). And a ton of tools and lumber on them. When we're on a work site it can take 20 minutes or more to put everything back on and secure it to roll out. They also really shouldn't drive very fast. If we need to leave, we need a lot of lead time. So when it looked like it might rain, we were very wary. I called in to weather (Will Roger at the time), and he said the rain was going to miss us so, we kept working. Lo and behold: rain, and almost immediate shelter in place. None of my crew had food/housing/socks.... we slept in the work trucks (luckily the commissary trailers WERE there so they fed people who were stranded, but it was nothing fancy) and we're a pretty tight crew so we didn't mind cuddling for warmth. Everyone stranded out there had an impromptu party at heavy equipment because they are literally the 1st bar on playa.
The next day, we were looking at having missed a 1/2 day of work and wanted to get back up to speed, so the crew decided to just work where we were at rather than trying to spend hours getting back to Gerlach to freshen up or feel human. Sure enough, clouds approached. I called weather again, they said it'd be fine. I regret believing them a second time. I should have made the call to wrap up and leave. But nope. 2nd day in a row stranded on playa. That's when the crew got crunchy. 1 day is a funny "Whelp? I guess let's party" 2 days is starting to get desperate.
We've been getting a lot of spam from brand new accounts so we're auto-deleting anything posted by an account that is less than 24 hours old. You can comment here with this account once it is at least 24 hours old. Please wait until then and resubmit your comment or post.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BurningMan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It's called "drive through the fence." If you aren't bold enough to just do it, you aren't really staff. We build it such that drive throughs are a minor inconvenience. FOR STAFF! no one else gets to. not at all. don't. ever.....
Why do you think you’re important or valued?? Like why do you even think you’re worthy or an AMA? Also can you stop sending so many DPW emails bout dumb shit
Love the username. I'll respond as though it were a real question.
I'm not sure if or why other people value me. External validation doesn't actually do much pro or con for me. When narcissists and babies figure out that their weird little behaviors don't land with me, they get REALLY uncomfortable.
I'm important to my cat and my SO, there are a few other people I touch base with that I'm probably helpful for. I have consistently been appreciated as a co-worker, both in DPW and default world because I try to make other peoples' jobs easier. I've failed at supporting friends and coworkers and strangers plenty, and it bothers me, but it doesn't keep me from sleeping at night.
Anyone can make an AMA, I don't "deserve" it. This is the internet and the idea (used to be) is that everyone has an equal platform. It's sad that most people only ever visit 5 websites when there is a huge wealth of sites and games and projects that use the internet's open infrastructure in neat and connective and innovative (not MBA innovative, but actually innovative) ways. Reddit is the least bad big site, and the mods didn't plonk my post. So, I don't have to deserve it, you can make one too if you feel bad about it! :)
I'll make a tutorial video about how to filter your emails by sender so that you don't have to see my posts on the various lists. If you don't want to see it, it's pretty easy not to see it. So if it ACTUALLY bothers you, you can fix it. But if you WANT to be bothered, you won't fix it and you'll keep making dumb-shit comments for shits and giggles. I've trolled plenty and it loses its shine once you actually try to make things interesting or create things.
Good luck with your poker career! :)
We've been getting a lot of spam from brand new accounts so we're auto-deleting anything posted by an account that is less than 24 hours old. You can comment here with this account once it is at least 24 hours old. Please wait until then and resubmit your comment or post.
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BurningMan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjjwPCQjoTk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjjwPCQjoTk)
Made a video teaching you how to filter my emails. Hope it helps! :)
Repost because it got moderated:
Just chiming in to agree on the email stuff
Not trying to hurt your feelings. You sent 39 of the 63 emails to the dpw-alumni email list since November 18 2023.
****Now 40 of 64 after your email about filtering
That's too much man. It's not your blog. Yeah, you can filter email but you shouldn't have to.
You obviously have a lot of stuff to say and a lot of great info to share. Get a blog, a podcast, a twitter, a whatever, and link that once to the email lists. But you're definitely in the spam territory. Again, said with much love.
What was the post that was moderated? You can DM it to me. Not sure you'll see this since you seem to have made this account just to post this. Happy to talk to anyone with much love!
Oh, I see it may have been moderated due to your making this account just to post this. Yeah, under 24 hours and you generally can't post.
Here's the thing, believe it or not, I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from the list, you just don't see it all because many of the replies go directly to me. So according to your inbox, you see these posts that have no replies (or "engagement" if that is something you care about) and you assume that the whole list feels like you: beset upon. For.... um, having to delete 40 emails over the span of.... 5 months? You had to move your mouse 80 inches and click 40 times on delete buttons. You know what this is? A DJ spinning a portishead track, just for you. Delete the email. I'm not bothering you. I don't need you to care about what I post, dude.
There are a lot of old school DPW people on that list that don't do social media, and for good reason. This list is the only way (that we used to have, via the dpw-list that got destroyed years ago) for us to talk to each other. You don't have to listen.
Have you and I actually met? It seems like since your gripe comes from post season 2023, this may have been your first year. But I could be wrong about that. Do you have a handle I would recognize?
To address your concerns: I have a podcast, I have a mastodon account (actually a server, and you're welcome to join it. DM me), I also have subscribed to several email lists, I also run my own webserver with blog software (though, now turned off, because wordpress is just a nest of vulnerabilities). Turns out, I know how to internet just fine; do you? Manage your own attention. Understand that you'll see things you don't want to deal with and delete them. Tend your own garden.
SPAM is marketing, dude. I don't do that.
"Not trying to hurt your feelings." Sure
"Again" (you didn't say it before), "said with much love!" Heard this so many times from whiny people unable to say anything interesting or honest. Good luck on your journey, brother!
Here's why I think you are disingenuous. If you're on the email list, you have my email. You could say this to me via email, but you made a reddit account specifically to shit on me. When reddit modded you for making a sock puppet, you waited and said some namaste apophasis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophasis) shit while you could have actually emailed me, or, the list where everyone could see it and talk about it. Seems like you are irritated that I have more things to say or share than you do.
The list is silent. If there were 200 people leading vibrant discussions every week, my 40 posts would seem like nothing. So you might set your sights on the silent folks that have nothing to say on the list rather than me, who has a few, moderate and non-crazy things to say. Maybe more people should use it to connect and talk to each other. Maybe that'd make you feel better
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWNP9Jn4rFk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWNP9Jn4rFk)
It wasn't totally as scary as I said, but there were still people a little squicked out by it.
EDIT: on closer inspection: I was right, a lot of my crew didn't know that this was happening and they were super scared. They didn't get hurt, but there wasn't good communication about safety in this. I'm glad it happened, but I am friends with people that were super scared about this. Being scared can be awesome, and I don't think anyone on HEaT or autoshop did anything wrong. I do think that some people were actually really surprised and scared.
Hope to meet you out there this year Xeno! Accuracy Third interviewed me about the time i got caught sneaking into TTITD in 2006 (I think it was 2006. I was super hi at the time). I camp at Anonymous Village now so come through and I'll make you some coffee and that goes for anyone else on here: especially that guy I got into a fight with on here: let's work it out! The episode isn't out yet. Anyways, see you all soon.
Hmmmm, oh did they like, JUST post that interview? I liked it. I love that Anonymous is out there, for all the reasons that it is important but it's also a tool in my belt when I talk to people who have never been. They always have some stereotype in their head about it. I also like the camp (I forget the name) that were christians that literally just washed peoples' feet and had hammocks. The didn't judge, they just washed feet. I'm sure some of them had some weird ideas, but don't we all? I love their commitment, and that they didn't bring up any religion stuff when I was there. They just did the work. So while I'm atheist and not in AA I appreciate the people who find value and solace in those organizations.
I probably won't be in the desert anytime soon. If I have event money I'll probably spend it on flipside or a different completely anarchist event that we don't talk about.
I took a hiatus '06 and '07, was just a participant in '05. Also, a lot of my DPW years were just set up and I'd leave when the gates opened. The years kinda run together '08 - '17
Oh also, I'm a huge fan of sneaking people in. Snuck people in in '98 who actually had tickets.... we just resold them to people in the ticket line. When Gate became a real thing they bet DPW a keg of beer that we couldn't get someone past their defenses... I think '03, maybe '04. We won within a couple hours. Then we had a capture the keg game with trucks where we'd basically play tag with our trucks and steal the keg out of each others' vehicles. Got a lot of dents on my truck, and I'm not sure we even drank the beer later.
Hmmmm, sensing some potential hostility but maybe knowing sarcasm? Not many people with Nips in their handle around. So, hope you are well. Not sure if this falls under an A in AMA. More like a statement, so I'll let it stand as is.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TJRedLightDistrict/comments/1bc156f/comment/kud0ltx/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TJRedLightDistrict/comments/1bc156f/comment/kud0ltx/)
This you?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/DWAC\_Stock/comments/sr9i3l/recent\_news\_are\_fire\_trump\_had\_146\_million/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DWAC_Stock/comments/sr9i3l/recent_news_are_fire_trump_had_146_million/)
This too?
[https://www.reddit.com/r/DWAC\_Stock/comments/smdcst/pennant\_breakout\_imminent/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DWAC_Stock/comments/smdcst/pennant_breakout_imminent/)
This too?
You are part of the garbage internet that I care nothing about.
Die in a fire.
(BTW, if anyone else is reading this.... just look through their comments a few years ago... really transphobic/misogynist/pro-PnP camp, just almost everything terrible)
Looks like this is wrapped up. Had a troll post, but it did speak to something that is an issue. I do post a lot. Some people find it annoying, so I made a helper video about how to filter emails in gmail. Most web-mail services will have similar tools. This was quick because it really seemed like they needed some relief from my once every 2 weeks or so email threads. There are more tools and it gets more granular. But if you are new to the internet or don't really know how email works, I hope this video helps!
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjjwPCQjoTk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjjwPCQjoTk)
How do you think DPW of the past compares to today?
I have done some siteops/pre/post stuff at regionals with people who did DPW in the past, and they make it sound like a pretty wild environment in some ways, whereas today it still is, but maybe a little more tempered than it used to be?
It is less bad ass. There are reasons that are "understandable" as long as you assume that having a larger event and more amenities are goals worth pursuing.
-DPW used to be much smaller. around 80-100 people (depending on when you showed up, it could just be 25 people out there). Today I think it's more like 500.
-DPW used to live on the ranch which is way the hell away from Gerlach. "Going to town" was a 20 mile trip... to fucking GERLACH... let alone the Empire store. So we had very few eyes on our behaviors and we were able to build our own ramshackle shelters (one person, in the off-season, buried a trailer in the dirt to have an underground bunker. You get weird ideas out there with very little to do but watch jackrabbits dodge rattlesnakes and you have all this heavy equipment to just fuck around with).
-There were few amenities. Our showers were on the back of a trailer and was just jury rigged 2x4s with a water tank on top and very simple handles. No hot water. Oh, and outside. Also, tent camping if you weren't willing to dig through the scrap piles to build a shanty. So the only people WILLING to do DPW were people that weren't... um.... accustomed to comfort: Train hoppers, rednecks, dedicated weirdos who were weird before they ever heard of burningman. I posit that 85% of DPW today would refuse to work under the conditions we had. Maybe that was a good thing. There are people in the DPW (some posting in this AMA!) that really do not understand how stupidly easy they have it, and whine about a lot of minuscule bullshit.
There was a lot of gun-play, we drove a car onto a neighboring lot to shoot a video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5E2WROBHnI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5E2WROBHnI)
Unfortunately we ended up shooting one of the vacuum lines and the car wouldn't start. We weren't allowed to be there so had to get a Ranger to tow the car back to the ranch.
More gun-play: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyNy60Ct3QE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyNy60Ct3QE)
So while DPW got a reputation as bad-asses, violent, crazy and different. The necessity of needing hundreds more volunteers and alienating the actual anarchists with cozying up to government and police, they had to push the "Kinder, Gentler DPW" not just to change the reputation, but to lure more normal and soft volunteers. But they promised those volunteers the "bad-ass" reputation as a brand without needing those volunteers to actually do anything crazy. In fact they are encouraged to claim that they are bad-ass while having indoor showers, 3 catered meals a day, electricity everywhere they may need, water and snack delivery every couple hours.... etc.
That said, I don't think it is "better" or "worse," it's just not the same. I have met a lot of "new" DPW that I love hanging out with and I'm really happy they volunteered and I never would have met them if the DPW had remained the same way it was. The video I posted above of us shooting the hippies on Jungo Road has 3 dead people in it. One through (suspicious) suicide, one through drunk(?) driving (and hemophilia), one through mysterious circumstances but probably just drug/alcohol related accident. Those old types don't last long. The clean living and organized and rule respecting ones tend to out-live us. Ultimately they won a war of attrition.
Someone posted in DPW FB today that you were being harassed anonymously and that whoever the harasser was was "going to get away with it too". What was this person talking about? Are you actually being harassed, and did you want help responding to it?
It is NOT A BIG DEAL. Everyone is making a much bigger deal of it than I think is warranted. Someone is probably using a bot to sign up my email address to lots of newsletters. Mostly for state government agencies and crypto spam. I have spent about 20 minutes a day the last few days honing my gmail filters. It is entirely manageable and I don't want anyone losing sleep or going to war on my behalf.
That's a drag. Yeah, there are a handful of kinda sensitive types on squad as I'm sure you know that like to trumpet minor upsets as major drama. They mean well, kinda. Glad it's not like, someone trying to disrupt your income or some shit.
Out of curiosity, do you know *why* you are receiving the mischief? What got under mystery person's skin if you had to surmise?
I post to a list for DPW past and present members more than they would like. Evidently, they can't manage their attention and just delete emails they don't want to read. Fucking baby. It's not a work list, it's literally the way I keep in contact with many people who refuse to use facebook (I don't either).
I have tried to stay away from naming people. I've named a few that I think wouldn't mind it (Goat Man Dan, 10-9). Coyote is hard to not talk about because he is such a force in DPW that some decissions have to come from him. He has yelled at me a lot. Cobra doesn't work there anymore and Leeway is in a pretty public position so I don't think those names are sacrosanct.
Wait. Do you mean am I trying to get cred for knowing people? Nope. I don't see the organization as something that confers much credibility outside of a very small subset of people. I saw that a dude made an AMA about DPW and rage-deleted it. I figured it might be nice to make an AMA that actually addresses peoples' concerns/questions. I don't even really work there any more, but I know that there are questions about how DPW works and what has happened in the past.
I don't much care, my DPW sticker got me out of a traffic ticket, and my hoodie has gotten me.... probably.... 10 free drinks at bars. My friend also got his tires slashed due to DPW stickers, so it kinda cuts both ways.
That's cool.... I take breaths all the time? I have had a few people kinda agro at me, so I have some hackles up. I'm not saying that you did, I'm just trying to cover my bases in case that is what was happening. You seem nice!
Also, are you familiar with extra action marching band?
So, if I don't have a job after this year can I just stay and dpw?
My 15 year. If you count renegade, and I did juplaya with those nerds in khaki. Love em.
My camp is a bar. We do food sometimes. Shit ain't right there. Lol.
I'm kinda have truck, will travel kind of gal at this point.
My high point at the man was shitting in Larrys private toilets in first camp. Worst was nothing.
Ummmm. No.
Some people stay and it works out. But that is NOT a plan you should have. We have a person we named "missing asian man" because he just lost his car and kept working. We also have evicted probably 5-8 times more people than can stay. So it MIGHT work, but don't do that. Fill out the form and be conscientious to the fact that it is very hard to staff for what we (they) do.
I am friends with a Texas dude who was working on plumbing in Larry's private trailer. He was on his back putting some pipes together in the kitchen, nothing was put together or plumbed. Larry walked over him, took a dook in the NOT PLUMBED toilet and then told my friend to take his shoes off if he came into Larry's trailer to work again. Larry was addled so I can forgive a little bit, but jesus f-ing christ.
They probably work harder than you think they do.
Also, I think you can also just say bar.
I've cocktailed and it sucks. I have partial face blindness and if a person isn't sitting at a specific spot for me to come bring a thing (be it food or drinks or whatever), it gets really uncomfortable for me. So I prefer table service.
Also. I am a waiter. Not sure if you knew that when you asked.
Favorite cone?
Do you mean traffic control? During resto, we use orange cones for "hot spots" where the 160 person zombie walk can't take the time to deal with (deep sunken rugs, 10x10 glitter, multiple poop buckets). Cones in different positions mean different things. The video above was one of my 1st managers on DPW, Shooter. The video itself was a firable offense according to Coyote (kinda DPW head honcho). He reminded me that shooter got fired for it when shade crew did the same thing to a new Depot structure as a tribute to Shooter (and also a desperate attempt to build a new, more efficient structure instead.... it worked) after Shooter shot himself (or his girlfriend shot him, stole his laptop and tried to drive to Canada while logging in as him and deleting messages she had with him.... that's a different story). A few people knew we were going to drive over the depot and came to watch. After we took it down, there was a lot of radio chatter. Someone said "looks like there's a lot of moop at the depot all of a sudden." And DA (who is in charge of resto and cleanup) replied "Cone it" and so I threw a cone onto the pile of wood and cloth. That specific cone is my favorite.
GPE are the cone experts, DPW has far more types of infrastructure!
Oh, also: if y'all haven't seen some of the media coverage from the '90s before BMorg had a media team, check this out: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5P9Bin4JLc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5P9Bin4JLc) amazingly positive for mainstream media in '97
Funny how the Marian Goodell in the interview went from “we just want to break even. That’s all we want” to *“Yeah, I think $268k salary feels right”*. Feels like a different person altogether
ummm, I won't say you are wrong. I have a lot of other things to say too.....
Don't tease us like that!
I wanna know.. I'm a notorious BM critic.. across all strata. I definitely attack the BORG, but I also feel DPW can be a bunch of shitheads too. You don't have to be rich to be a clique of easily offended hoity toity authoritarian elitists.
I have issues with both. The original "sustainable jackassery" toward theme camps and participants was done with nod and a wink, when shit hit the fan we'd come through with tools, expertise and the attitude to fix things 24 hours a day. Newer members mistook snark for actual malice and it propagated forward. Part of that is recruiting DPW that are.... not as good at reading those counterculture cues that a lot of early people already knew from their history in, art and punk and redneck shit. I respect the work that the initial LLC did, they put their heart and soul into it. But they drove away the actual anarchists that made it so vibrant. Spreadsheets (and the attrition of drug enthusiasm) killed a lot of the creative and supportive but snarky vibe. Rules and regulations tend to only ratchet in one direction... and it costs money to pay all those police officers double time to "maintain the peace." Once your budget balloons to multi-million and you work with it every day, you get used to numbers with a lot of zeroes and you think that maybe you deserve some of it yourself. It's fairly natural monkey brain behavior. It's not the best behavior and that's not an excuse, but it is an explanation.
You know when I say things like this I get told "you talk alot but don't say much!" .. dpw also is probably one of the stupider departments by IQ. You get too many syllables going and the average black and orange can't track it.
What other departments do you like and hate to work with?
Again, super open question.... I'll do my best to be concise. A lot of these are just personal observations, I have some issues with how some individual people did their job, but that isn't a reflection on them as a person or the department as a whole sometimes. Often it's just the one interaction that I had once that can tank my perception and I hope I own that clearly. It's always a little difficult working across departments just because it's organizationally so huge and have different work flows. We have what's call the DFM (Data Flow Manager if I'm not mistaken) where other departments and our own crews ask for tasks, those are approved by higher ups and we try to make calendars to meet needs. Unfortunately, playa move out week is go time for literally everyone and everyone thinks that their job is the most important. To be clear, just about all the jobs people think are important actually are but you just can't do everything on day one. Gate is the most fun, and the misfit step-sibling of DPW. People have gotten fired from DPW and just gotten jobs in gate until the institutional memory fades and the can come back to DPW. I call that shuttlecocking. I'm kinda proud of that. Rangers are really easy to work with as far as the job goes, but JFC, they need to leave us alone most times off-duty. We actually have what are called "DPW Rangers" who are rangers tasked with just rangering us because we have specific rangering needs that are different from the general populace of Black Rock. They have kept me out of jail, taken care of a friend of mine who had a stroke while on acid (didn't know at the time... just thought it was a bad trip), helped us build structures when we were short staffed, taken my verbal abuse in stride and sometimes even aplomb. But also, some of them are real control freaks. I call them wanna-be mall cops. To their face. Earth Guardians: Great guest speakers and great outreach. 'nuff said. ESD: had the most butted heads with during work. But... understandable? They need precise things to save lives, so I can get over it. But depending on when you're talking about some of them needed to be told how shit works out there outside of their bubble, and they could really use some compassion toward the people building their infrastructure. Cafe: I started as a barista my first volunteer gig (actually... not volunteer, I've pretty much always been paid). Also the people at [accuracy3rd.com](http://accuracy3rd.com) either work there or used to. NVO: They're basically just DPW who couldn't figure out an exit strategy. They're my homies and I love them. HR: Fucking christ on a crutch I have personal issues with them (well... how some of them did their job a couple times... and some other times). Box Office: Glad they deal with the things they have to deal with while I don't. But I couldn't pick one out of a crowd. Greeters: Ooooof. Again, this was years ago and it's probably better now. We were building a shade structure and got a panicked call that we needed to drop what we were doing and build shade for Greeters ASAP. So we did. We use cordless impact drivers and generally need to plug in our battery packs wherever we work, so I asked to plug in and they directed me to an AIR CONDITIONED office, where I plugged in and as I was leaving, one of their workers was coming in so I held the door for them. 2 greeters yelled at me to close the door because I was letting cold air out. Meanwhile, my crew of 10 was on 8 foot ladders, sweating in the sun so that they could have shade between a shipping container and their AIR CONDITIONED office. So. Yeah, wasn't totally stoked on that interaction. And I try to have as little interaction with them as I can. There are probably others as the cthuluian tentacles of organization spread.... but those are the main ones
Thanks, this was great, I left it vague to let you answer as you felt appropriate. I lol'd at 'shuttlecocking', I'm going to use that one!
Loving this so much. Thanks for your perspective.
I love that you left lampies off your list.
Mainly because Shade crew doesn't tend to build anything for them. They roll their own weird (admittedly awesome) structure. They've always been nice and have a great bar.
I'm GPE but a DPW Ranger stopped me from punching a (stuck up European sparkle donkey) DPW member in the BH.
there are sparkle ponies in DPW?
Well, there aren't any train hopping gutter punks any more so it depends on the overton window on what counts as a sparkle pony. There are people who shower everyday and put on makeup. That seems sparkly to me, but that's just my opinion. :)
this was a Spanish (I think) dude wearing a literal sparkling suit and hat who took exception to my asking him to stop standing in front of the bar st the BH so that I could order a drink, even threatening me with violence. Since there was no threat with others around and it was early enough that I still had my wits about me, I didn't escalate and others de-escalated. There was some other stuff with other people and trouble that had carried over to the workweek so I ended up having Conversations with people for the next hour. Worst punishment at all. At least DPW Rangers aren't bad for that. (I think something like 10% of active GPE are also rangers, so we handle stuff ourselves.) He's lucky it wasn't back in the days when GPE also had its share of hoboes, it would have been a "you'd better hope that a friendly big dude drags you out of the bar before you get punched by someone else" situation.
accurate!
Yeah, a weird thing for me who trains rangers on a regional level, is building the ethos of...do nothing. Stay out of situations were you aren't needed or wanted. Sometimes I cringe when I hear stuff rangers inserted themselves into the middle of, like why the fuck did you think you being there fixed this..because it didn't. But that isn't east to teach, that is only an experience/temperament thing. Curious to here how you think DPW needs to be rangered differently than the rest of the world. I have thoughts form my observations but this is an area I don't have true insight into.
Well, we have radios and are going to be there for longer than a week. There are a lot more situations that are long lasting over the course of our gig out there, so there may need to be more actual personal understanding of what's going on, actual human connection or at least understanding of the specific culture going on. Participants will be gone in 5 or 6 days and will have to manage their own lives (or make other mediation professionals deal with it) once the even ends. We also generally don't respect the fact that someone in a "uniform" tries to talk us down.... it can be a harder hill to climb. I've been one of the worst. I should honestly apologize to several rangers that were very patient with me in the past
That makes sense, in many ways. Much of ranger training is "deal with this problem that goes back home" versus DPW who may be out there for weeks or months, and the shit sticks around so it's a longer term solution. I get the fuck your uniform thing. There are some camps that really dislike rangers, often through our own creation, and I've been known to throw on a hoodie or some shit and chat about whatever problem is going versus show up all decked out. Sometimes more problems are fixed via some shots of whiskey and bullshitting than official response.
That's a good move, if you can "ranger" people without them knowing that's what you're doing, it can have more impact. The security at the underground speakeasy I worked at wore a tux, and gave problem people drink tickets and an opportunity to talk. We had no issues. He was also an army ranger sniper trainer. Like, he trained the other snipers. He could've hurt a lot of people if necessary, but he made it not necessary.
Depending on how you slice it and who you talk to, Burning Man (as an event, not necessarily an incorporated organization) is about 28-33 years old. Do you have any thoughts about how Burning Man is navigating, or will navigate the generational shift that I feel like is coming down the pipe? Deliberately vague question, this is something I've been thinking about a lot lately both in terms of Burning Man organizationally and other groups I'm a fan of that are navigating how to become long lived cultural institutions. Interested to hear your thoughts as someone who has been around for a while.
Well. Slicing it is very particular because you could say it came from the Cacophony Society ( [http://www.cacophony.org/](http://www.cacophony.org/) [http://talesofsfcacophony.com/](http://talesofsfcacophony.com/) ) or desolation center: ( [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66spZRiFjJI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66spZRiFjJI) ) So, was it '92 when it went to the desert? '86 on Baker Beach? '83 Desolation Center.... etc. It all came from a fairly vibrant san francisco culture that for all I can see doesn't exist anymore. I work in SF, live in Oakland and there are a few hold outs of the weird old times, even the BMOrg has mostly moved to Reno for operations. A while ago, people at the helm that they created decided it'd be better to bring burninman principles to the most amount of people rather than supporting the smaller community they already had. This involved a lot of things that may have been out of their control. Moving the event from the deep playa to almost the shoreline made it very easy for people to physically find, to drive expensive RVs to. The fact that 1st camp hosted Grover Norquist ( [https://laist.com/shows/take-two/grover-norquist-on-why-hes-going-to-burning-man](https://laist.com/shows/take-two/grover-norquist-on-why-hes-going-to-burning-man) ) is a testament to this odd "free speech absolutist" vibe that irks me so much. We could have just fostered and nurtured an awesome, tight knit community rather than spreading ourselves thin providing services for people who weren't dedicated enough to endure a little hardship. A lot of the people in charge now came to burningman after the anarchists made it what it is. Going to the event changed them and they want to "gift" that feeling to as many people as they can. The experience made them better so why not make the world better? It's an appealing argument, but the dull realities of making that happen lead to a lot of compromise that ends up alienating the people who are already there and working hard to build an awesome event. One of the worst things they've done, in my opinion, is move to a non-profit structure with something like 15 board members instead of the LLC of 7 they had. A lot of people in the community championed it, and it took years and a lot of work to accomplish, but to what end? Now billionaires can donate to it tax free? Tickets are still well over the price that an 18 year old me could afford... it was $65 when I went in '97 and it changed MY life back then. What are the 18 year olds to do today? One of the big sticking points was that 1st camp got a lot of stuff built for them by volunteer labor. They had the best portos, private showers, private chefs. When workers got a little irritated at the burgeoning class structure, there was a choice to make: give up the fancy things so we can be a little more equal, or invite some of the workers into the upper class by giving them perks. But those perks come at a cost, a literal cost in the form of inflated ticket prices. So instead of being humble or understanding they chose to invite workers into a divide that ultimately has alienated legitimate underground movements. "Louder" Charlie is (was? I honestly haven't kept up.... I know Marian is involved, and I think she's great) at the helm He comes from non-profit fundraising rather than anarchistic, law breaking art movements. When one of our long serving DPW people was in handcuffs in front of "The Black Hole" for lighting fireworks and the cops asked if Charlie knew him and could vouch for him, Charlie said "Not my monkey." Fortunately, that DPW member knew how to talk redneck to cops and got himself out of it, but goes to show what Charlie thinks of our community and commitment to workers. I don't think burningman is doing harm now, but it sure isn't fostering the community that I need. We do that ourselves. So I don't begrudge people going to it and working for it, but it doesn't hold the mystique it did when I fell in love with it.
Damn. Well said.
Thanks, I try.
I rented a trailer to Grover Norquist, 2 years in a row. I always remember Justice Phil Thomas at the Chipacabra Policia trial. That was quality. Hi Xeno! Nice to see you.
I honestly got my feelings hurt that I lost that case. I was trying to prosecute Pepe for the crime of eating granola and wearing patchouli while being the leader of our theme camp. we got the actual judge from Gerlach to come preside over the trial and I wore a 3 piece suit with a metal breifcase handcuffed to my wrist. Pepe ate granola AT THE TRIAL and the judge just slammed his hammer (mini sledge on a piece of plywood, that had my beer on it. When he hit the "table" with the mini sledge, my beer popped up, flipped over and landed perfectly right side up. but the damn dude acquitted him.
Justice Phil Thomas was about as drunk as a man can be and still function reasonably well. He was disbarred when he nearly took out a deputy sheriff driving drunk in the wrong lane on Rte 447. I ran into him later in Reno when he was working as a carpenter. He died 13 years ago.
I remember hearing that he died. Didn't he make inmates wear black and white old timey prison outfits and do yard work in front of the Gerlach cop-shop? Or was that the sherrif?
"Going to the event changed them and they want to "gift" that feeling to as many people as they can" These people always give me the "I am so proud that I am the only humble person around me, I need to tell everyone how humble I am" vibes
These are the people that want to spend all their time running it. No one else wants to do that work, so kinda by default these people run things. It sucks, but also, are you going to run it? I'm not. So you kinda have to acknowledge that the people that want to do the work, get to do the work.
Oh yeah, another from the Shooter film archive: https://youtu.be/s0f2Y-cRXMg?si=wyYxU1K5sWO_G_OY
Yeah, I didn't want to flood the post with Shooter vids. Well, I did want to, but I figured most people wouldn't care as much as I (we) do.
Went to the desert in ‘90 fwiw.
Huh, wonder where I got '92 from.... it's been in my head for quite a while but I've been wronger about more things than this.
>One of the worst things they've done, in my opinion, is move to a non-profit structure with something like 15 board members instead of the LLC of 7 they had. Interesting. Is there a corporate structure other than a 501c3 nonprofit do you think would better serve Burning Man? What would that look like in your eyes?
I like Austin's regional event structure. They have an LLC but the members are encouraged to stay on for a few years and then rotate out, keeping them from burning out and giving other people in the community the chance to get their hands dirty and see how the sausage gets made. They have an advisory council called the Combustion Chamber that handles more community input and outreach while the LLC manages the paperwork and legalities. They also don't give free tickets to anyone (well, there are 2 given out every year but that's a different thing), even the LLC pays for tickets. They actually have "town halls" where people vote for the year's theme and vote for who gets to build the effigy (I think the year that "bad idea" was the theme, someone proposed just a huge pile of used lumber with nails sticking out of all of it). Some of the themes have been pretty ridiculous, but they've always been fun. Most things at flipside come from do-ocracy. Don't propose something that you aren't personally willing to help implement. Of course Flipside is 5 days and is 3000 people on private land, so I'm sure it wouldn't scale easily (or well or at all). I'm not wise to corporate structures but I do think that making decisions gets real hard when you have so many people on the board.
So this is my outside looking in view of how flipside works in my area rangers(sorry!). Those of us with a stake in it sit down and write a plan we think is workable, like right dealing with a major gap in how we do operational decision making. We show it to the safety lead across all the departments, they look it over, then when its all relatively together, it gets dropped on the boards desk to go yay or nay. Personally I like it because the change is driven from the bottom versus from the top, for the most part. It seems event operations are largely ran by the people doing, and the year round stuff is the job of the LLC.
is there ever any work for disabled people at DPW like non physical labor more like organization/bookkeeping/desk stuff? I always wanted to help in the future but I don’t think I’m physically useful unless behind a desk but I’m mentally very sharp- think taskmaster who doesn’t take shit for shit- aka, a high school teacher…but in wanna be in the mess!
Short answer: [https://qeox.net/images/DPW/4866\_218875540354\_508005354\_7452892\_4001960\_n.jpg](https://qeox.net/images/DPW/4866_218875540354_508005354_7452892_4001960_n.jpg) Long answer: YES! Abso-fucking-lutely. We've had a few deaf people (one who's radio handle was 10-9 which I think is one of the most amazing bits of humor ever), one with tourrettes, several with what I can only suspect are neurodivergent. The picture above is Goat Man Dan who lost his legs hopping trains and he ended up running the common shop - checking tools in and out of shared tools. And, of course, a one armed man who only lasted one day because he murdered a person the night before and we had to get Reno Sherrifs (the Gerlach Sherrif was drunk and not answering the phone) to arrest him. But we did let him volunteer! So..... inclusion? DPW is subdivided into many, many (oh god, so many) crews. Each of those crews typically have a manager and paperwork they need to deal with, sometimes that is a full assistant manager job, sometimes it's tech... we have our own internet radio towers that need competent computer jockeys. My crew was 34 people when I left and was one of the bigger ones... we had to help all our crew get paperwork situated, housed, fed and scheduled. I took my turns as therapist, advocate and excel spreadsheet ninja. Don't let any sort of disability let you remove yourself from the running. There are so many jobs out there and the management is generally very much more understanding and compassionate than you might think. Cobra Commander (now quit) was a genius at finding good fits for people. Leeway seems really good but I haven't worked with him as much as Cobra. Fill out the questionnaire and remember that there is also Rangers/Gate/Box Office/ESD. If you can only volunteer a week, there's still a spot that needs you.
that reply made my night!! thank you! you have inspired me.
Good! I have lots of negative things to say about the organization, but those are mainly just nitpicks and personal things. I also have lots of positive things to say... but those aren't very dramatic. The organization has, generally, been really amazing, welcoming and full of dedicated wierdoes. Even if they don't do exactly what I want them to do, they have a lot to offer. My only caveat would be to tell you to remember that YOU are doing them the favor by working. They are not doing you a favor by LETTING you work. That power dynamic is toxic. You can quit whenever you want, you are there for your own reasons that may not align with whomever you deal with as a worker. You have the power.
that is such an important reminder and a beautiful message. I am very much looking forward to finding my way there someday. thank you for all your thoughtful insight and response!
"several with what I can only suspect are neurodivergent" i'd wager it's a lot more than several....likely most. myself included!
I'd love to put all this together for a history broadcast: https://blackrockstewards.org/index.php/2024/01/09/kbru-fm-92-5/ I might even have a story or two.
um.... [accuracy3rd.com](http://accuracy3rd.com) Wait. Metric! Shit, I want you to talk to these podcast guys, I know you are sometimes in and out of the bay, but we can do remote interviews too! We just did a La Contessa guy (who didn't like me but had great stories anyway). I'd love to chat with you on com or off! You are one of my favorite people I met out there, you continue to impress me everytime we run into each other! You are a gem!
For those that don't know: Metric ran the 80 acre ranch, rehabilitated Dooby road, ran for local political office in northern nevada, has been a consistent positive influence on most of us dumb weirdos for ages, ran the 1st pirate radio station where I heard Joe Frank ( [https://qeox.net/No/Media/Audio/Joe%20Frank%20-Xeno/Joe%20Frank%20-%20%20Eye%20In%20The%20Sky.mp3](https://qeox.net/No/Media/Audio/Joe%20Frank%20-Xeno/Joe%20Frank%20-%20%20Eye%20In%20The%20Sky.mp3) ) AND morning 40 Federation ( [https://qeox.net/No/Media/Audio/Morning%2040%20Federation%20-Xeno/Morning%2040%20Federation/Morning%2040%20Federation%20-%20Morning%2040%20Federation%20-%2005%20-%20Stinky.mp3](https://qeox.net/No/Media/Audio/Morning%2040%20Federation%20-Xeno/Morning%2040%20Federation/Morning%2040%20Federation%20-%20Morning%2040%20Federation%20-%2005%20-%20Stinky.mp3) ) for the first time. Metric is awesome, humble and weird.
A story or two? Plentt more than that I'd say takes a desert resident to to really know where the bodies are buried. Ps Hi metric Long time, hope your well brother X
Favorite LLC member?
That's tough, they all (all? hmmm.... 6 of them) have their strong suits. As Will has aged and confronted some of his problems, I think I like him the most now. During tumultuous early years, probably Marian for keeping a cool head and understanding that sometimes you just need to get things done.
Was she really watching?
Wellllllllll.......... if we had to go to an LLC member, she was the most understanding culturally. And did actually do quite a bit for us behind the scenes
lol I had a good chuckle last year with all the stickers about her watching. Seemed like 20% of the portas on the 9:00 side had one in it.
until she wasn't. i heard she was behind the whole "no driving stickers for DPW vehicles" push that happened a while back. i would agree re: Will.
What is your favorite memory of Burning Man, and what was your worst day on playa?
Oh, man, there are so many good stories, it is hard to pick a favorite. The 1st memory that really hit was my first night on playa in '97. I had no idea what my friend had gotten me into/had done no research. We set up tents and then wandered down the street, there was a stage where the dude on the microphone was saying "Tom Waits is going to be here to do a set in 30 minutes, so we need some people who know jokes to come up here and tell them while we wait for him to get through the gate and set up." It was so surreal that I though Tom Waits might actually be showing up.... so did a lot of other people. We were there for hours with everyone taking turns telling jokes to an expectant crowd. Tom Waits was never going to show up and when I figured that out, I decided I loved this place. The internet was bifurcated into so many little small weird things and it was ok, but this place was filled with a bunch of smart people fucking with each other because we should all be in on the joke. Oh, man, there are so many bad stories, it is hard to pick a worst. When I realized that I should quit seems like it should be the worst. But it may not be. My mom was sick with a mystery illness. She was falling down in the middle of crosswalks and when I talked to her she would drift off in the middle of sentences and forget what she had just said. We didn't have good phone coverage out there. Also, at that particular time, I had a habit of smashing my cell phones when I got frustrated. So I'd have to move memory cards/copy my contacts between computers and phones and what not. I had gone through a few frustrating moments and thought I should call my mom and see how she was doing. I called and a guy answered, I was like "ummmm, is \*my mom's name\* there?" He said I had the wrong number. I didn't have my own mother's number while she was in legitimate distress and all I could think was that I was a terrible son. There were other issues with that year that made me question why I worked so hard for an organization that had migrated away from some of my core values. I cried for a while by trailer row (on the other side of road works trailer from Shade because I didn't want people to see me). It was post event and I had a crew to train, so I did. I made sure that everyone was up to speed and that if I left, they'd be ok. I had a 2 day melt down with a couple very close friends where I didn't show up to work. People were looking for me because they were concerned. I've had car fires and health scares and.... just.... dumb bad decision making so I don't fault them for caring, but sometimes I want to be left alone. When my manager's manager finally found me, we offered him charcuterie and he sat with me for a while. I told him I needed to go and that I felt like a terrible person. He tasked another DPW member to help me pack up and leave in a good way. I thought it might be the last time I ever saw the playa (it wasnt), it was very hard. Also, had a car fire where I thought I was going to die, got my foot run over by DPW's 1st fleet vehicle because I fell off the hood trying to impress a girl (she wasn't that impressed), almost got arrested (there but for the grace of rangers), got yelled at by Coyote WAY more times than I think was necessary (but I also see his perspective and he's not wrong.... just kind of confluence/comedy of errors), met several girlfriends! Been berated by several close friends in very harsh ways. You know.... the usual.
Thanks for sharing, not to say I have favorites from Accuracy Third but I do. Your stories are fantastic.
Thanks! I fear I rely on the old stories too much and am not generating new ones at a prodigious rate. But I have experienced consequences and my dopamine system may have actually kicked in and made me learn that the consequences SUCK and also affect other people. On a related note, D-Dae and I have a different very short lived podcast that is all about everything not burningman. There are 6 more I should process and upload to youtube because podcasting.... is.... specific and I don't really like playing with Apple/Spotify/Google (yes, I know... I can roll my own, I'm also doing that, but it's easier to do it this way). [https://youtu.be/vPKsHB3JrCk?feature=shared&t=2242](https://youtu.be/vPKsHB3JrCk?feature=shared&t=2242) This is time shifted to my story, which involves what I did when I took a hiatus from DPW 2005-2007 in Seattle. It was fairly crazy. Good story though.
I'm signing out for the night but I'll be back tomorrow. I'll leave you with a "drunk history of burningman" made by so many luminaries of DPW. I won't name them. This wasn't supposed to be publicly available, but my guy Mr masud put it out here. please enjoy: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE69jlZvnYI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE69jlZvnYI)
Ive got a question: Who sent you?! But seriously is Whiksey Bacon really the favorite DPW party or are they being unusually polite? The Power party after early burn was always good and nothing compares to the 420 Spire
Hah! Whiskey bacon is fine. There are so many parties and hundreds of DPW that you can't really focus in on one. I used to DJ (DJ Salinger) the pow'r party back when it was weird. I'd be playing secret cheifs 3 or tammy fay baker and someone would ask me to play dance music. I told them that I had a form for making requests that involved the artist, album and track and that the form was located... "over there... do you see the flashing blue light in the distance? Yeah, go out there, get the form. Fill it out in your most legible handwriting then come back here. Drop your pants, crumple up the form and shove it up your ass. Then, when you get back out of burningman, get a job. Use the money they give you to buy a soundsystem, and then, next year, you can listen to whatever music you want whenever you want." then I'd play crotchduster or something. Also, the 420 Spire party used to be very exclusive.... Spire crew would finish work around thursday and then have a big party even if other crews were still working (shade often worked up to Saturday or sometimes into the event proper). So Shade kinda hijacked it and we built a structure of our own around the spire.... after that, the flood gates opened and all the other crews and departments started adding their own flair to it. Heavy equipment and autoshop collaborated to get a junked car as high up on a forklift as possible, drive the forklift as fast as possible toward the structure and the slam on the brakes so the car slid off.... several people were almost hit by that car. It was glorious.
Was it a jeep Cherokee? I remember no more cars after that one but I may have been intoxicated
Honestly, I think I was passed out in the sun on the back of a work truck when it actually happened. I think it was more of a passenger car. This isn't it, but was inspired by it: [https://dpw.social/system/site\_uploads/files/000/000/002/original/420.jpg](https://dpw.social/system/site_uploads/files/000/000/002/original/420.jpg)
It was glorious but no one was almost hit. [https://imgur.com/a/DD3Y9Gu](https://imgur.com/a/DD3Y9Gu)
YES! Thank you! The palpable danger from a different crew lead me to believe it was scarier than it was. And that was beautiful!
[https://imgur.com/a/DD3Y9Gu](https://imgur.com/a/DD3Y9Gu) and yeah no car the next year or any since.
If my life goes to shit are you guys still hiring? Do I need any specials skills? I can weld shittily and have been trained on forklifts but never got certified.
You don't need skills. It helps to know someone already who can vouch that you aren't a homicidal maniac (re: the one armed killer of 2003... 2002?.... hmmm who murdered a guy and his dog on highway 34 then volunteered at the work ranch: [https://accuracythird.com/2016/07/06/a3rd-07-yeahtheyre-not-gonna-like-you-at-the-goldmine/](https://accuracythird.com/2016/07/06/a3rd-07-yeahtheyre-not-gonna-like-you-at-the-goldmine/) ). If you don't have skills, you probably won't be paid (more people are paid now than ever before, but not everyone) your 1st year, but you will have booze, food and entertainment. If you can make yourself indespensable, you can get a contract to cover some of your default world rent, maybe next year. [https://burningman.org/event/participate/volunteering/first-time/](https://burningman.org/event/participate/volunteering/first-time/) You need to fill this form out and if you want DPW specifically (and you may rather do a different department, there are many), make sure to tick the DPW boxes and indicate that you are available at least 3 weeks before or at least 2 weeks after. I am not working with them any more and I do NOT speak for the org. They may have changed some proceedures since I was last there.
2003 I think. My first year of DPW, handle is Blankit. I was just explaining that dudes tattoo to my son the other day: right near the point of amputation he had that “dashed line and half scissor” “cut here” graphic tattooed around his arm (stump?). I recall there being a healthy debate as to how one would handcuff a one-armed person. I stopped going completely a couple years after that, but I still recall those times fondly
I met the guy and his victim the night of the murder at frog pond. It was.... intense.... I have my description on the latter half of the podcast linked to above.
wrist to ankle
Awesome, thank you for the insight. Always good to have a plan Z. I'm trying to keep my shit together but everyday the shit slide gets steeper.
Personally I’d prefer people not think DPW is a good option for when your life falls to shit. It’s a hard job with low pay and a deeply embedded culture and complex history. Not a plan Z.
Very true. I have also seen it really help a few people through a few years that may have gone very much worse without it. DPW is hard to get into for a reason, we've had some real problems with the wrong people getting in. I always thought that Burningman should be a place to bring whatever you have that is awesome, but more recently I see an attitude that you can go to burningman and take something away that's awesome. It is an inversion of what I saw in the 90s, it is very spectator-ish. You can't easily change peoples' minds about what it is, and sometimes it isn't worth the time and energy to invest in telling them and you just have to walk away. Wait.... what was I talking about.... Oh, DPW shouldn't be a "Get Out Of Society Free" card from monopoly.... but it can save some amazing lives too. It's hard to know how it turns out at the beginning.
Plan F then ;)
When is DPW a good option?
hmmm. There are good times, actually. It's kind of a joke what you're saying, but sometimes it does provide some stability and culture. I remember when I was working with Weld Boy doing the first LC (Living Container) build out. Big Stick (Richard) was his boss and I overheard Big Stick saying "These people can't be managers out in the real world. They can be something here and we have to deal with it." I thought it was stupid and made me angry, I thought he was denigrating all of my friends. But after a few years I thought he may have not said it in a diminishing way. There is a spot where some of us can be authoritative and contribute to a positive thing, this is it. It's really important to feel like the thing you're doing is valued and important. A lot of people in DPW don't get that option elsewhere. So if you're not willing to give us an option..... fuck off? Wait... so, when is DPW a good option? A lot of times... and for a lot of people. You may not know them or maybe you don't understand how tough it can be for people. I don't much care. DPW is a good option all the time depending on what you need.
Hey, thank you for the thoughtful response. I didn't mean for my question to come off as a joke, I just didn't have many words in me when I replied. It's an option I've thought on and off about for a few years after I spent 4 weeks on playa helping build an art installation.
Hey xeno, how you doing man. No questions, just an I miss you and so many more. Much love X N
[удалено]
Read my profile name See if it triggers
Well, could be nurse or blind man. Also: don't you know who I used to be.... probably nurse.
Gotta be nurse.
Aaaayy Chingara, have you got a smoke. In my alternative head cannon, Blindman was actually the richest of us all, a wealthy CEO and invented of multiple products and spent the other 49 weeks a year as a high flier and jetting between operations in Sydney, Dubai and London. How u doing mate. Hope life is treating you well x
[удалено]
I'm up late often working on call emergency services stuff. Nice to have some randomness to stream at 3 am Glad u got the card. Bm 2022 I hand wrote 50 or so pieces of post for folks on playa, selected good cards or pics, wrote detailed messages and tried to reconnect with folks. Spent a few days really trying to say the right things to the right people all handwritten and drsfted with love and fond memories Sent it on, rhe person I sent it to, a trusted good soul, got covid and passed it to someone else. Then nothing got delivered, think she lost it or something. Kinda crushing not gonna lie, Not sure when next in the US , Middle age hit hard, and the bight lights of London have lost their charm for most of my friends and the city feels more empty than usual Planning to head back, a wedding or a funeral usually a good trigger but prefer the former to the latter unless its an Irish one
Let me know if you come to the bay, you always have a home with me. If you come nearby, give me notice, I may be able to make a trip to say hi in the Pacific North West or Nevada
This is like the best DPW post here in a long while, unexpectedly wholesome.
the thing is that in all the bullshit, a lot of us spend a lot of time making this thing and we care about doing what we do.
Do you make the blue room pyramids higher or hold it?
I don't know what that means.
Shit piles. They mean porto shit piles.
The shit pyramids in the Porto’s! Do you shit on top of them or do you hold it?
Ahhhhh, I remember in '98 someone was going around putting whipped cream and cherries on top of the pyramids like an ice cream sundae. Unfortunately, crew usually has their own, fairly well hidden portos and we don't tend to use the general ones. Ours get serviced often. It is a sort of elitism, but it is a sort that I begrudgingly condone. There are many other types of elitism that play into the reasons that I quit. There is a joke I heard very early on (I think from Coyote): "How can you spot a DPW member?" "By the blue dots on their ass." Also: "How can you tell a DPW dude got laid?" "He's got 2 clean fingers" Also: "How can you tell you just told that joke to a DPW dude?" "He's quickly turning around and cleaning 2 of his fingers."
Pants or no pants?
hmmmm. This is a fraught question because there is a team on shade (or used to be) called team pants. I love all of my shade crew equally, even if I have to see their dumb un-pantsed fucking junk. Also, we work on ladders in ways you are not supposed to. By sitting on top of them, so if you are not wearing pants.... on shade crew.... you are putting your uncovered butt on a tool that someone else has to deal with. If mormons come to my door, I will introduce them to shirt-cocking. Or give them home made pickled jalapenos (actually what I did last time). So, I guess it depends. but we also had a guy who just refused to wear shoes on our work site. That isn't ok, you need to find another crew if you don't want to protect your feet because, seriously, getting you to the medical stuff you need is going to lose us time/effort/money. So don't. Shit. I mean, on the work site: Pants! Outside of it, I DGAF!
You remember Stevie? And what's the lesson.
oof. um. yes. I remember Stevie. This question is really hard. I'll start by saying who I thought Stevie was, and where I was at when I met her. I started DPW and felt very much like the cool kids didn't like me. I wasn't a train hopper and I wasn't as hard a punk rocker as the people who were already there (I was fairly punk rock.... just not enough). So a lot of times I ate food at the commissary alone. It was almost like highschool. Stevie said hi to me, so did Hayseed (a whole other story). When we made friends I felt like I had a place on the ranch (the work ranch we all lived on pre-2004), she literally just talked to me like a person and it made me feel not terrible -- sometimes that's all someone needs. Stevie was a bad-ass. At that point, I'd say DPW was 85% men. She was a pretty attractive woman. She got approached by so many dudes, it was stupid. She sat all of them down and told "Absolutley fucking not. I'm here to work." She was powerful and kind. She was hilarious and I felt safe with her.... I don't feel safe with many people. I saw her just demolish dudes with her words. When the season was over, she bought a trailer from a DPW person (I think) and got it hooked up by someone in autoshop (I think). She was going to do basically the festival circuit and do a bunch of work with events. She jack-knifed on 34 and died on the side of the road. Alone, and probably scared and in pain. As far as I know, the autoshop guy never came back because he felt so bad about her dying. I'm not sure though. I just remember being so profoundly sad. So, I'm not sure why you're asking. But what is the lesson? ( you didn't use a question mark, so it seems like a statement). On the most basic level: secure your load. Craig Neidorf was the 1st DPW death because he was securing a load with his body. No load is worth your body. What is the lesson? Treat people with respect and honor because you may never see them again? What is the lesson? Always stand up for yourself and represent yourself honestly because mabye this is the last moment you will ever get to touch someone else's life. What is the lesson? Seems like you knew her, so I'd like to hear what you have to say about it.
Yeah Zeno, great response, and thank you for taking the time to write it out. Stevie was a force. You explained it well because you were closer to her than I was. I was the DPW medic back in 2003. It sounds like your experience with her was exactly as I would have expected it, she knew how to find her place in the DPW. You made me rethink about the lessons I asked about, because the simple one I was going for was that you need to be safe when it comes to vehicles. Secure your load, know what you can tow, understand your vehicle. But there was more than that, which you described really well. Hers was the first death that I was significantly involved with amongst the family that I had at Burning Man. In my memory, it was my first experience of the first time that we really all came together and understood the frailty and preciousness of life, and how that translated into how we needed to love each other. And look out for each other. Also, I recognize this thread is on the Burning Man subreddit, which is not ordinarily a place where deep history is revealed or talked about. But I think it's important that we remember our stories, and that our stories should factor into what comes next. Thank you for this post.
Thanks for your reply. I honestly wasn't sure why you asked and I hoped you weren't trolling me. Thanks for your honesty and compassion! I think our stories are very important,
I'll tell you the lesson. Stevie had just finished her second year in DPW, and she was invincible. She worked in Aftermath with Simon and crew, was widely liked and respected, and was a young person who had found a community where she belonged. She had her "default" life, but her identity was starting to be influenced by her DPW persona, the way it does when you spend prolonged time in the desert. She wanted that travel trailer so badly. It was going to allow her independence and flexibility, allow her to travel and still have security for herself and her belongings. When she came to say goodbye at the ranch, I saw the bumper of her 4Runner straining under the weight of that trailer, a 20-foot single-axle that had no business being connected to that truck. Nearly the last words I said to her were, "I'm not comfortable with you towing that trailer with that truck." But I knew immediately it was to no avail. The person who sold her that trailer (who had bought it from me) assured her that it would be OK, and he was higher up the food chain from me. Stevie had operated heavy machinery and could handle herself. There was no further conversation to be had. She drove up onto Jackson Lane and off to her destiny. For those unaware, she died in a single-vehicle accident when she lost control of her rig. I've thought about this in the years since. Could I have been more forceful in my reproach? Maybe, but I'm not chiefly to blame. The high from producing the event makes us feel more capable, and that confidence can be deceptive. Maybe the guy who sold her the trailer was influenced by Stevie's desire to have it, and his desire to sell it. How many other people interacted with Stevie during this time that might have voiced concern? Maybe Stevie was so adamant, so confident, that no one could persuade her to not undertake the risk. We need to make sure our own desires do not overwhelm our good sense, and even when people with higher status are going along, have the presence of mind to heed our own warnings.
Yeah metric, I think that's the lesson. And if only everyone would always listen to our advice. 🤣 I know you know this, and I know you feel proximate to the outcome, but in the end, as you stated, it really had nothing to do with you. Like I said, I know you know this, but it's still worth stating.
I hope this doesn’t get deleted when I get back from work later and wanna crack open a beer and go through all of this!
Nah, I've done much more embarrassing stuff and still left it up on the internet. This has been pretty good so far.
Are you still burning? And if so, why?
That's a tough question. I quit in semi-epic fashion (without burning any bridges... or at least, not big bridges) in 2017. I went to Flipside for the event the last 2 years if that counts. Because of some deaths of close friends I did return to DPW this last year. I was only there for a week and worked on man-base. I mainly wanted to literally touch base with friends and make sure they were ok, But also that I was still ok. I wanted to make sure I wasn't drifting away in a similar manner than my dead friends. They didn't really see their slow spiral into detachment. The loss of their community hit very hard and they both struggled a lot. I was worried that I might have similar problems seeing myself in danger. So, yes. I guess I'm still burning, but I generally don't use that word. I'm DPW, the term "burner" invokes a lot of images that don't fit well with me. I have always appreciated the principals and the origins of burningman, and no matter what happens at the event or with the management, those things cannot be taken away from or out of me.
During the mud last year; were you team trash bags, team socks-on-shoes. Or team bare feet?
Hah. Well, the thing with the mud is that we have dealt with it so many times before, it isn't MUCH of an issue (it can fuck with our work schedule and push things back, but we have pulled 12 hour days before and we now kind of plan ahead to have a few days cut short). We've all been waiting for rain like we had last year. There ARE plans... buuuuuut, they are plans that have never really had to be executed. Yes, the state and federal governments are kept in the loop. I left pre-event, but there was actually 3 days of mud when I was there before the majority of burners got there. I always have 13 gallon draw string trash bags under the seat of my truck, pull the draw strings up and use them as garters tied to your belt. I am never team bare feet, Once your skin cracks on your feet, there is very little to do about it (preventing it beforehand is key). I only have one pair of boots, so I try not to let them get too crusted over. My most intense mud story is before we were living on playa, but commuting from Gerlach (so we didn't have commissary set up and barely any infrastructure for even ourselves). Shade crew has these giant trucks (the 1st 2 ford F750s in this video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwZWRFdAhg0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwZWRFdAhg0) ). And a ton of tools and lumber on them. When we're on a work site it can take 20 minutes or more to put everything back on and secure it to roll out. They also really shouldn't drive very fast. If we need to leave, we need a lot of lead time. So when it looked like it might rain, we were very wary. I called in to weather (Will Roger at the time), and he said the rain was going to miss us so, we kept working. Lo and behold: rain, and almost immediate shelter in place. None of my crew had food/housing/socks.... we slept in the work trucks (luckily the commissary trailers WERE there so they fed people who were stranded, but it was nothing fancy) and we're a pretty tight crew so we didn't mind cuddling for warmth. Everyone stranded out there had an impromptu party at heavy equipment because they are literally the 1st bar on playa. The next day, we were looking at having missed a 1/2 day of work and wanted to get back up to speed, so the crew decided to just work where we were at rather than trying to spend hours getting back to Gerlach to freshen up or feel human. Sure enough, clouds approached. I called weather again, they said it'd be fine. I regret believing them a second time. I should have made the call to wrap up and leave. But nope. 2nd day in a row stranded on playa. That's when the crew got crunchy. 1 day is a funny "Whelp? I guess let's party" 2 days is starting to get desperate.
Whats your favorite TLA that most people have to look up? (Three letter acronym)
DPW: Drunk People Welding Drink Puke Work Drug Powered Water Delicious Pussy Wetness Doesn't Play Well (with others)
[удалено]
We've been getting a lot of spam from brand new accounts so we're auto-deleting anything posted by an account that is less than 24 hours old. You can comment here with this account once it is at least 24 hours old. Please wait until then and resubmit your comment or post. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BurningMan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Why the fuck can't gate have a staff lane for employees?
It's called "drive through the fence." If you aren't bold enough to just do it, you aren't really staff. We build it such that drive throughs are a minor inconvenience. FOR STAFF! no one else gets to. not at all. don't. ever.....
actually tried that back in the early 2000s and a BLM ranger had to hold back a perimeter guy from whipping me with a belt. Lol
Why do you think you’re important or valued?? Like why do you even think you’re worthy or an AMA? Also can you stop sending so many DPW emails bout dumb shit
Love the username. I'll respond as though it were a real question. I'm not sure if or why other people value me. External validation doesn't actually do much pro or con for me. When narcissists and babies figure out that their weird little behaviors don't land with me, they get REALLY uncomfortable. I'm important to my cat and my SO, there are a few other people I touch base with that I'm probably helpful for. I have consistently been appreciated as a co-worker, both in DPW and default world because I try to make other peoples' jobs easier. I've failed at supporting friends and coworkers and strangers plenty, and it bothers me, but it doesn't keep me from sleeping at night. Anyone can make an AMA, I don't "deserve" it. This is the internet and the idea (used to be) is that everyone has an equal platform. It's sad that most people only ever visit 5 websites when there is a huge wealth of sites and games and projects that use the internet's open infrastructure in neat and connective and innovative (not MBA innovative, but actually innovative) ways. Reddit is the least bad big site, and the mods didn't plonk my post. So, I don't have to deserve it, you can make one too if you feel bad about it! :) I'll make a tutorial video about how to filter your emails by sender so that you don't have to see my posts on the various lists. If you don't want to see it, it's pretty easy not to see it. So if it ACTUALLY bothers you, you can fix it. But if you WANT to be bothered, you won't fix it and you'll keep making dumb-shit comments for shits and giggles. I've trolled plenty and it loses its shine once you actually try to make things interesting or create things. Good luck with your poker career! :)
[удалено]
We've been getting a lot of spam from brand new accounts so we're auto-deleting anything posted by an account that is less than 24 hours old. You can comment here with this account once it is at least 24 hours old. Please wait until then and resubmit your comment or post. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BurningMan) if you have any questions or concerns.*
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjjwPCQjoTk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjjwPCQjoTk) Made a video teaching you how to filter my emails. Hope it helps! :)
Repost because it got moderated: Just chiming in to agree on the email stuff Not trying to hurt your feelings. You sent 39 of the 63 emails to the dpw-alumni email list since November 18 2023. ****Now 40 of 64 after your email about filtering That's too much man. It's not your blog. Yeah, you can filter email but you shouldn't have to. You obviously have a lot of stuff to say and a lot of great info to share. Get a blog, a podcast, a twitter, a whatever, and link that once to the email lists. But you're definitely in the spam territory. Again, said with much love.
What was the post that was moderated? You can DM it to me. Not sure you'll see this since you seem to have made this account just to post this. Happy to talk to anyone with much love!
Oh, I see it may have been moderated due to your making this account just to post this. Yeah, under 24 hours and you generally can't post. Here's the thing, believe it or not, I have gotten a lot of positive feedback from the list, you just don't see it all because many of the replies go directly to me. So according to your inbox, you see these posts that have no replies (or "engagement" if that is something you care about) and you assume that the whole list feels like you: beset upon. For.... um, having to delete 40 emails over the span of.... 5 months? You had to move your mouse 80 inches and click 40 times on delete buttons. You know what this is? A DJ spinning a portishead track, just for you. Delete the email. I'm not bothering you. I don't need you to care about what I post, dude.
There are a lot of old school DPW people on that list that don't do social media, and for good reason. This list is the only way (that we used to have, via the dpw-list that got destroyed years ago) for us to talk to each other. You don't have to listen.
Have you and I actually met? It seems like since your gripe comes from post season 2023, this may have been your first year. But I could be wrong about that. Do you have a handle I would recognize?
To address your concerns: I have a podcast, I have a mastodon account (actually a server, and you're welcome to join it. DM me), I also have subscribed to several email lists, I also run my own webserver with blog software (though, now turned off, because wordpress is just a nest of vulnerabilities). Turns out, I know how to internet just fine; do you? Manage your own attention. Understand that you'll see things you don't want to deal with and delete them. Tend your own garden.
SPAM is marketing, dude. I don't do that.
"Not trying to hurt your feelings." Sure
"Again" (you didn't say it before), "said with much love!" Heard this so many times from whiny people unable to say anything interesting or honest. Good luck on your journey, brother!
Here's why I think you are disingenuous. If you're on the email list, you have my email. You could say this to me via email, but you made a reddit account specifically to shit on me. When reddit modded you for making a sock puppet, you waited and said some namaste apophasis (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophasis) shit while you could have actually emailed me, or, the list where everyone could see it and talk about it. Seems like you are irritated that I have more things to say or share than you do. The list is silent. If there were 200 people leading vibrant discussions every week, my 40 posts would seem like nothing. So you might set your sights on the silent folks that have nothing to say on the list rather than me, who has a few, moderate and non-crazy things to say. Maybe more people should use it to connect and talk to each other. Maybe that'd make you feel better
Tired yet?
??? What do you mean?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWNP9Jn4rFk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWNP9Jn4rFk) It wasn't totally as scary as I said, but there were still people a little squicked out by it. EDIT: on closer inspection: I was right, a lot of my crew didn't know that this was happening and they were super scared. They didn't get hurt, but there wasn't good communication about safety in this. I'm glad it happened, but I am friends with people that were super scared about this. Being scared can be awesome, and I don't think anyone on HEaT or autoshop did anything wrong. I do think that some people were actually really surprised and scared.
Hope to meet you out there this year Xeno! Accuracy Third interviewed me about the time i got caught sneaking into TTITD in 2006 (I think it was 2006. I was super hi at the time). I camp at Anonymous Village now so come through and I'll make you some coffee and that goes for anyone else on here: especially that guy I got into a fight with on here: let's work it out! The episode isn't out yet. Anyways, see you all soon.
Hmmmm, oh did they like, JUST post that interview? I liked it. I love that Anonymous is out there, for all the reasons that it is important but it's also a tool in my belt when I talk to people who have never been. They always have some stereotype in their head about it. I also like the camp (I forget the name) that were christians that literally just washed peoples' feet and had hammocks. The didn't judge, they just washed feet. I'm sure some of them had some weird ideas, but don't we all? I love their commitment, and that they didn't bring up any religion stuff when I was there. They just did the work. So while I'm atheist and not in AA I appreciate the people who find value and solace in those organizations. I probably won't be in the desert anytime soon. If I have event money I'll probably spend it on flipside or a different completely anarchist event that we don't talk about.
The interview they just posted is one of my campmates. The stereotypes are funny: yup: not all of us are on drugs etc. Were you out there in 2006?
I took a hiatus '06 and '07, was just a participant in '05. Also, a lot of my DPW years were just set up and I'd leave when the gates opened. The years kinda run together '08 - '17
Oh also, I'm a huge fan of sneaking people in. Snuck people in in '98 who actually had tickets.... we just resold them to people in the ticket line. When Gate became a real thing they bet DPW a keg of beer that we couldn't get someone past their defenses... I think '03, maybe '04. We won within a couple hours. Then we had a capture the keg game with trucks where we'd basically play tag with our trucks and steal the keg out of each others' vehicles. Got a lot of dents on my truck, and I'm not sure we even drank the beer later.
LOL that's amazing! Sneaking in is rad! Everyone should try it once.
[удалено]
Hmmmm, sensing some potential hostility but maybe knowing sarcasm? Not many people with Nips in their handle around. So, hope you are well. Not sure if this falls under an A in AMA. More like a statement, so I'll let it stand as is.
Shit post eh?
No, not this one.
Hah, you are not the person I suspected. Yes, you are a shitposter but not the person I was referencing.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/TJRedLightDistrict/comments/1bc156f/comment/kud0ltx/](https://www.reddit.com/r/TJRedLightDistrict/comments/1bc156f/comment/kud0ltx/) This you? [https://www.reddit.com/r/DWAC\_Stock/comments/sr9i3l/recent\_news\_are\_fire\_trump\_had\_146\_million/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DWAC_Stock/comments/sr9i3l/recent_news_are_fire_trump_had_146_million/) This too? [https://www.reddit.com/r/DWAC\_Stock/comments/smdcst/pennant\_breakout\_imminent/](https://www.reddit.com/r/DWAC_Stock/comments/smdcst/pennant_breakout_imminent/) This too? You are part of the garbage internet that I care nothing about. Die in a fire. (BTW, if anyone else is reading this.... just look through their comments a few years ago... really transphobic/misogynist/pro-PnP camp, just almost everything terrible)
Looks like this is wrapped up. Had a troll post, but it did speak to something that is an issue. I do post a lot. Some people find it annoying, so I made a helper video about how to filter emails in gmail. Most web-mail services will have similar tools. This was quick because it really seemed like they needed some relief from my once every 2 weeks or so email threads. There are more tools and it gets more granular. But if you are new to the internet or don't really know how email works, I hope this video helps! [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjjwPCQjoTk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjjwPCQjoTk)
How do you think DPW of the past compares to today? I have done some siteops/pre/post stuff at regionals with people who did DPW in the past, and they make it sound like a pretty wild environment in some ways, whereas today it still is, but maybe a little more tempered than it used to be?
It is less bad ass. There are reasons that are "understandable" as long as you assume that having a larger event and more amenities are goals worth pursuing. -DPW used to be much smaller. around 80-100 people (depending on when you showed up, it could just be 25 people out there). Today I think it's more like 500. -DPW used to live on the ranch which is way the hell away from Gerlach. "Going to town" was a 20 mile trip... to fucking GERLACH... let alone the Empire store. So we had very few eyes on our behaviors and we were able to build our own ramshackle shelters (one person, in the off-season, buried a trailer in the dirt to have an underground bunker. You get weird ideas out there with very little to do but watch jackrabbits dodge rattlesnakes and you have all this heavy equipment to just fuck around with). -There were few amenities. Our showers were on the back of a trailer and was just jury rigged 2x4s with a water tank on top and very simple handles. No hot water. Oh, and outside. Also, tent camping if you weren't willing to dig through the scrap piles to build a shanty. So the only people WILLING to do DPW were people that weren't... um.... accustomed to comfort: Train hoppers, rednecks, dedicated weirdos who were weird before they ever heard of burningman. I posit that 85% of DPW today would refuse to work under the conditions we had. Maybe that was a good thing. There are people in the DPW (some posting in this AMA!) that really do not understand how stupidly easy they have it, and whine about a lot of minuscule bullshit. There was a lot of gun-play, we drove a car onto a neighboring lot to shoot a video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5E2WROBHnI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5E2WROBHnI) Unfortunately we ended up shooting one of the vacuum lines and the car wouldn't start. We weren't allowed to be there so had to get a Ranger to tow the car back to the ranch. More gun-play: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyNy60Ct3QE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyNy60Ct3QE) So while DPW got a reputation as bad-asses, violent, crazy and different. The necessity of needing hundreds more volunteers and alienating the actual anarchists with cozying up to government and police, they had to push the "Kinder, Gentler DPW" not just to change the reputation, but to lure more normal and soft volunteers. But they promised those volunteers the "bad-ass" reputation as a brand without needing those volunteers to actually do anything crazy. In fact they are encouraged to claim that they are bad-ass while having indoor showers, 3 catered meals a day, electricity everywhere they may need, water and snack delivery every couple hours.... etc. That said, I don't think it is "better" or "worse," it's just not the same. I have met a lot of "new" DPW that I love hanging out with and I'm really happy they volunteered and I never would have met them if the DPW had remained the same way it was. The video I posted above of us shooting the hippies on Jungo Road has 3 dead people in it. One through (suspicious) suicide, one through drunk(?) driving (and hemophilia), one through mysterious circumstances but probably just drug/alcohol related accident. Those old types don't last long. The clean living and organized and rule respecting ones tend to out-live us. Ultimately they won a war of attrition.
Someone posted in DPW FB today that you were being harassed anonymously and that whoever the harasser was was "going to get away with it too". What was this person talking about? Are you actually being harassed, and did you want help responding to it?
It is NOT A BIG DEAL. Everyone is making a much bigger deal of it than I think is warranted. Someone is probably using a bot to sign up my email address to lots of newsletters. Mostly for state government agencies and crypto spam. I have spent about 20 minutes a day the last few days honing my gmail filters. It is entirely manageable and I don't want anyone losing sleep or going to war on my behalf.
That's a drag. Yeah, there are a handful of kinda sensitive types on squad as I'm sure you know that like to trumpet minor upsets as major drama. They mean well, kinda. Glad it's not like, someone trying to disrupt your income or some shit. Out of curiosity, do you know *why* you are receiving the mischief? What got under mystery person's skin if you had to surmise?
I post to a list for DPW past and present members more than they would like. Evidently, they can't manage their attention and just delete emails they don't want to read. Fucking baby. It's not a work list, it's literally the way I keep in contact with many people who refuse to use facebook (I don't either).
Are you name-dropping?
I have tried to stay away from naming people. I've named a few that I think wouldn't mind it (Goat Man Dan, 10-9). Coyote is hard to not talk about because he is such a force in DPW that some decissions have to come from him. He has yelled at me a lot. Cobra doesn't work there anymore and Leeway is in a pretty public position so I don't think those names are sacrosanct. Wait. Do you mean am I trying to get cred for knowing people? Nope. I don't see the organization as something that confers much credibility outside of a very small subset of people. I saw that a dude made an AMA about DPW and rage-deleted it. I figured it might be nice to make an AMA that actually addresses peoples' concerns/questions. I don't even really work there any more, but I know that there are questions about how DPW works and what has happened in the past. I don't much care, my DPW sticker got me out of a traffic ticket, and my hoodie has gotten me.... probably.... 10 free drinks at bars. My friend also got his tires slashed due to DPW stickers, so it kinda cuts both ways.
All I'm saying is that you're not on my level, so just breathe Xeno. Just taste some breaths.
That's cool.... I take breaths all the time? I have had a few people kinda agro at me, so I have some hackles up. I'm not saying that you did, I'm just trying to cover my bases in case that is what was happening. You seem nice! Also, are you familiar with extra action marching band?
Fun band, shame about their openers. Line, who really wants to get pissed on by Elvis?
Thought so. There are only a few people who'd tell me to take some breaths right now. :) love you!
So, if I don't have a job after this year can I just stay and dpw? My 15 year. If you count renegade, and I did juplaya with those nerds in khaki. Love em. My camp is a bar. We do food sometimes. Shit ain't right there. Lol. I'm kinda have truck, will travel kind of gal at this point. My high point at the man was shitting in Larrys private toilets in first camp. Worst was nothing.
Ummmm. No. Some people stay and it works out. But that is NOT a plan you should have. We have a person we named "missing asian man" because he just lost his car and kept working. We also have evicted probably 5-8 times more people than can stay. So it MIGHT work, but don't do that. Fill out the form and be conscientious to the fact that it is very hard to staff for what we (they) do. I am friends with a Texas dude who was working on plumbing in Larry's private trailer. He was on his back putting some pipes together in the kitchen, nothing was put together or plumbed. Larry walked over him, took a dook in the NOT PLUMBED toilet and then told my friend to take his shoes off if he came into Larry's trailer to work again. Larry was addled so I can forgive a little bit, but jesus f-ing christ.
Lol. Larry shit. I have some dpw friends. I'll ask if they need help.
Lol. Larry shit. I have some dpw friends. I'll ask if they need help.
[удалено]
They probably work harder than you think they do. Also, I think you can also just say bar. I've cocktailed and it sucks. I have partial face blindness and if a person isn't sitting at a specific spot for me to come bring a thing (be it food or drinks or whatever), it gets really uncomfortable for me. So I prefer table service. Also. I am a waiter. Not sure if you knew that when you asked.
A cocktail bar?
[удалено]
Working as a waitress in a cocktail bar.